Shrewsbury Town owner Scott Davidson reveals academy and women’s football ambitions

Salop’s academy has enjoyed considerable success in recent years, both on the pitch and as a pathway to the first team, with several homegrown players earning professional contracts and featuring under Gavin Cowan.

Davidson explained how the academy was one of the attractions of taking over Town, while highlighting his desire to further develop women’s football.

“When we talk about sort of the full suite of things that make Shrewsbury Town attractive, one is the academy that we have today, certainly on the men’s side,” he told the Shropshire Star.

“There’s a lot of very good young players who are coming through. From what we understand, the staff is excellent.

“And I think that the local community will benefit. There are a lot of good players here, and we need to find a pathway for them into the first team and to other places.

“Women’s football is super important to me. My daughter is a very high-level player. She won’t play here, don’t worry. She’s kind of retired.

“But in any case, I care about it deeply. We really care about it, and we want to find a way to help as much as we can there too. It’s important.”

Davidson also outlined his plans to invest in the club’s infrastructure, believing improvements away from the pitch can help generate greater revenue and ultimately provide more resources for the playing squad.

He added: “We plan to spend resources on building and developing infrastructure.

“The more infrastructure you develop, we believe the more revenue you’ll generate. As you generate more revenue, you’ll have more funds to put into a playing squad.

“We’re not going to go for quick fixes. We’re not going to do things in a short-term way. We’re going to build it very consistently for the long term.

“When you think about infrastructure, it’s both buildings, but it’s intellectual capital. It’s data analysis. It’s how you treat the players. It’s what you do with the academy.

“There’s a lot of things that you can do to massively improve the club, and we plan on doing all of those things and maybe a few more.

“But we don’t think it’s going to take a day. We think it’s going to take quite some time. And we’re happy with that because we want to be here and be successful for a long period of time.”