Football Season Review

Shrewsbury did reasonably well in the early stages of the season, and few would have predicted their finishing position from the evidence shown in the first three months of their campaign. Led by their experienced manager Graham Turner, the Shrews were pretty hard to beat, and actually had to settle for draws in numerous games in which they outplayed their opponents in terms of chances created. They were sitting comfortably in lower midtable until early December, when they entered a crisis that caused a chain of events that ultimately cost them League One status. They lost six consecutive home games between November the 26th and January the 18th, with the run of results causing Turner to resign from his position and end his 36-year managerial career. The club opted to make a huge gamble and make an appointment from within, as they replaced Turner with the inexperienced Michael Jackson. The former defender said all the right things in his interviews and made several loan signings in order to change his side's fortunes, but his record in charge was far from impressive, as Shrewsbury won only three times in nineteen games under him. Their relegation was confirmed in the penultimate round, when they fell to a 4:2 home defeat to Peterborough. The club opted to make a change at the helm, as Micky Mellon was named their new manager following the end of the season, although Jackson has been allowed to remain at the club, as he will serve as Mellon's assistant. Several club officials have already stated that Mellon's first task will not be to deliver an instant return to League One, but to make the Shrews competitive using players contracted to the club. It therefore seems that the days of Shrewsbury's heavy reliance on the loan market are history.

Player of the Season: Joe Jacobson