Four names who could be linked to Shrewsbury Town managerial hotseat

Salop are seemingly destined for League Two, even before Ainsworth decided to swap Shropshire for Kent, so the preferred option may be to appoint an interim and start afresh in the summer.

Here, we look at four names who could be linked with the post at the Croud Meadow.

Dino Maamria

The former Burton Albion boss was in the running for the Shrewsbury job when it became available at the back end of last year following the sacking of Paul Hurst.

Instead it went to Ainsworth, who started with a bang by beating champions-elect Birmingham City, but was unable to stop a slide back to the foot of the League One table.

Maamria was a seemingly popular candidate at the time due to his experience of a League One relegation battle at the Brewers.

He does also have experience of League Two, having been in charge of Stevenage and Oldham Athletic - though lasted just six months and 10 months on each occasion.

Nigel Pearson

The romantic choice would be the return of a club legend with a Premier League CV who has battled illness over the last 18 months.

Pearson revealed in December he had been 'learning to walk again' after a neurological condition, which came on towards the end of his time at Bristol City in 2023.

Most famous for leading Leicester City's great escape in 2014/15 - setting the scene for their memorable 5,000-1 title triumph under Claudio Ranieri 12 months later - Pearson recently posted pictures from a walk in the Peak District with the message 'making progress'.

It remains to be seen whether or not he would want a return to football management, but Pearson shot straight to the top of the market with some bookmakers.

The former defender played for Shrewsbury between 1981 and 1987 after being plucked from non-league Heanor Town and went on to represent Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough.

Andy Mangan

Another former Shrewsbury player, Mangan is a highly-respected coach at Stockport County.

However, had new Brexit rules not intervened, he would currently be plying his trade at the Bernabeu Stadium with Real Madrid.

Mangan was set to join Carlo Ancelotti's La Liga champions, having worked with his son Davide on his Uefa coaching badges, but with a work permit application set to take nine months, the move was rejected by the Spanish government.

The former striker enjoyed two spells as a player in Shropshire, winning promotion from League Two in the 2014/15 season, and was another name under consideration when Hurst was sacked last year.

David Longwell

Currently interim manager at AFC Fylde, Longwell has his hands full with a National League relegation battle alongside former Salop goalkeeper Chris Neal.

The pair were chosen to replace former Premier League striker Kevin Phillips in February and enjoyed a 3-0 victory over former Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill's Forest Green Rovers side on Saturday to put them within a point of the safety line.

Longwell was a highly-respected coach at the Croud Meadow across four-and-a-half years before leaving to join Burnley as the head of their academy in August 2023.

He stepped down a year later amid allegations from national newspapers that he had mistakenly sent a scathing report on the Burnley squad to members of the under-21 team.