00:00 Well, hello, I'm Nathan Judah. On a Sunday, I'm delighted to be joined by Shrewsbury Town reporter, Mr Ollie Westbury.
00:07 On a Sunday, Ollie, doesn't always mean it's going to be going to be great news.
00:12 It's dark, it's stormy, it's windy outside and that cloud has been firmly above Shrewsbury Town for a while now.
00:21 And important movement today in terms of the head coach at Shrewsbury Town.
00:28 Yeah, yeah. You're probably right the way you say it there, that, you know, we're probably, that this day has perhaps been coming for a while.
00:37 You know, Town's form for probably a decent chunk of time has been inconsistent at best, to be fair.
00:45 Seven defeats in the last eight across all competitions, six in the last seven in the league.
00:50 Town are kind of sliding towards a relegation battle.
00:54 There's seven points clear of the drop zone, but everybody below them has played, you know, at least one.
00:59 And in most cases, two. And I think Chelsea have actually played three less games than them.
01:04 So, you know, their position in the table becomes more precarious by the defeat.
01:10 And they're just not putting up, you know, they're just not picking up any points at the moment.
01:14 And that's the problem. I mean, even if they're not winning games, they're not drawing them either.
01:18 They just win or lose three draws all season, I believe it is.
01:22 So, yeah, it's a very precarious situation that they find them in, find themselves in.
01:27 And obviously yesterday's defeat at Peterborough, which to be fair to Matt Taylor and the team, they played pretty well in.
01:33 But obviously it was the final straw for the hierarchy.
01:37 And Matt Taylor has been removed from position along with his assistant, Marcus Biglet.
01:44 Yeah, obviously you broke the story earlier on this morning, Oli.
01:48 We've got a poll on the website, on the Shropshire Star website. 85, 88, an overwhelming majority agree that it was the right decision.
01:57 Do you feel from what you've seen, of course, you know, new manager in the summer, huge overhaul behind the scenes at Shrewsbury.
02:04 Do you feel that Matt Taylor got enough of a crack at the whip or did he need to be given a little bit more time to show what he can do?
02:13 It's a really difficult one, isn't it? It's how long is a piece of string?
02:18 It probably felt like it's not I wouldn't have say I wouldn't say anybody feels it's a shock, really, given the form.
02:28 And I've spoke about it at great length on the podcast that actually it's more that the fan reaction has kind of told you where the fan base are at for quite some time.
02:38 And when they react the way that they do, when they're kind of chanting that you're going to get sacked in the morning against Stevenage.
02:44 And we've been in that position several times this season. And that kind of tells you where the fan base's heads are at.
02:50 So, you know, given that it was another defeat yesterday, I mean, it's perhaps a little bit harsh to sack somebody after losing, you know,
02:58 losing to Peterborough, a side that have scored the most goals in the division this season.
03:02 But this wasn't the one game, wasn't it? This was the one game you had gone on beforehand, do you feel?
03:07 It's an overall it's an overall build up of what is can only be described as a very difficult situation that Town find themselves in.
03:14 I must admit, my first reaction was I was absolutely gutted, to be honest, just because obviously a man's lost his job today.
03:21 And he's, you know, we all know that people get well paid in football, but still, you know, Matt Taylor was desperate to be successful as Shrewsbury Town Manager.
03:30 He wanted it. He wanted it really bad. And it's just not worked out.
03:33 It's not worked out, you know, through various reasons, which, you know, will be up online soon.
03:38 You know, when I do when I've written a comment piece on it. But yeah, it's not worked out.
03:42 So probably, probably, you know, it's perhaps time for a change.
03:46 But I'd say that probably concerning times for the club, really, because, you know, rather than getting better and being on the front foot and, you know,
03:54 expanding and getting better as a football club, they're probably regressing both on and off the field.
04:00 Yeah, difficult one to lean to because, like you say, new dawn at the start of the season, you know, lots of lots of hierarchy movement.
04:08 And then, you know, Matt Taylor comes in desperate to prove himself after, you know, whether we got a fair chance at Walsall or not.
04:15 And, you know, this Shrewsbury job, he was so looking forward to proving himself and proving, you know, that he can be a manager in league football.
04:22 And look, he's probably in limbo at this moment in time.
04:26 You know, you come off the back of someone like Steve Cottrell, who obviously had had, you know, issues behind the scenes, I think it's fair to say,
04:33 and, you know, led to his departure, but was quite popular with the fans and with, you know, some of the players as well while he was there.
04:40 Do you feel it was always difficult for Matt Taylor to step into someone who was quite liked and a lot of fans were disappointed to see Cottrell go?
04:49 Yeah, you're stealing the thunder of my comment piece.
04:52 Oh, sorry. Apologies.
04:54 I'm only teasing, I'm only teasing. But yeah, that's exactly one of the points that I made.
04:58 You know, he's coming in off the back of Steve Cottrell's 12th place League One finish last year, second highest in 33 years.
05:05 You know, that thing that has been bandied around so many times.
05:09 Somebody who was well respected and well liked by the fan base.
05:13 Was there enough explanation as to why Cottrell left?
05:17 No, there wasn't.
05:18 So I think the fans are being told that, you know, their football club's kind of going backwards, but there was no explanation why, you know.
05:27 And then there's all the... I'm a bit fed up with talking about budgets and all this because it always comes out when somebody,
05:33 somewhere has got some form of narrative that they want to push.
05:38 It's always flying around, you know.
05:41 I mean, we had it a lot when Steve was manager.
05:44 You know, you always get it at various stages of the season.
05:47 So at the end of the day, they've just not been good enough.
05:51 And yeah, it does feel like, you know, I feel for Matt.
05:58 I feel for Matt because probably the expectation, you know, at the club is probably for Shrewsbury to just not go down this year.
06:05 And actually they're 19th. But, you know, that's not what the fans want.
06:09 They finished 12th last year. Why should they? You should be getting better.
06:12 You shouldn't be going backwards.
06:13 And I think that's part of the problem is that they have gone backwards for one reason or another, you know,
06:19 in kind of off the field and that's impacting, you know, on the field.
06:24 And, you know, that's where they find themselves at the moment.
06:27 And it's a difficult position.
06:31 I've said that Matt Taylor is a little bit in limbo.
06:33 So are the fans, Oli, because, you know, you start this season,
06:37 Mickey Moore comes in and the big hope is for, you know, he makes a huge appointment.
06:41 This is his first appointment as well. So he'll be very disappointed, deeply disappointed,
06:45 and a difficult decision for him as well to part ways with Matt Taylor.
06:48 But it's happened. It's not worked out.
06:50 You know, Shrewsbury is sleepwalking towards the relegation zone as we speak and the club are up for sale, you know.
06:56 So it's not great if you're a Shrewsbury Town fan.
06:59 So what do they need to do to shore up this shit pretty quickly and look,
07:04 get someone in who is going to make things a little bit better come the end of this season
07:09 and going into the 2024/2025 season?
07:13 Yeah, they need to make their appointment. They need to make it really quickly.
07:17 They need whoever it is that comes in, needs to have time to be able to assess the squad and,
07:22 you know, to bring some players in, to bring some bodies in, depending on how they want to play
07:26 and where they feel that the squad needs strengthening.
07:28 I think that is a matter of necessity.
07:30 We cannot have two weeks of kind of faffing around, interviewing managers,
07:34 because that transfer window will be closed and it's just, that's just not what's needed.
07:40 Action, quick action is needed.
07:42 I mean, they need to kind of get the club and get the team back on track
07:46 so that they can begin to kind of make some inroads in what we can only say now that they are in a relegation battle.
07:52 You know, for a long time, I haven't really been saying that they are in a relegation battle
07:56 because there's so many points clear.
07:58 But, you know, it's the way the form is and the way that they're playing
08:01 and the lack of goals, they are 100% definitely in this relegation battle, that is for sure.
08:07 Football moves on very quickly, fans move on very quickly and Shrewsburg are going to have to move on very quickly
08:12 and get this manager in and get the right manager in.
08:14 Any early contenders, would you say?
08:17 Some of the fans have obviously spoken on social media and they've got their ideas who they'd like to see in charge.
08:23 What do you know as of this moment?
08:25 And this is Sunday at about 5pm.
08:27 Yeah, it's a tough one as to where they're going with.
08:31 Obviously, I'm still kind of dealing with the aftermath of Matt Taylor leaving at the moment.
08:36 So it's a tough one in that respect.
08:39 But, you know, obviously there's lots of chatter on social media about Paul Hurst and Duff,
08:46 who is someone who's worked with Mickey Moore before.
08:50 So, you know, that kind of, you can see the links there.
08:55 Where was he recently sat? I think it was Swansea he was recently sat from.
08:59 So you can see how that would, I mean, he would probably be my preferred candidate.
09:04 You know, he did obviously an excellent job at Barnsley before, you know, heading over to Swansea.
09:11 Obviously, Paul Hurst has been at the club before.
09:13 Obviously, he's recently been sat from a League Two club.
09:15 So whether you're any further on, then, you know, obviously that was the same situation as when they appointed Matt Taylor.
09:22 There's other people in there, isn't there? Mark Bonner, Mark Kennedy, other contenders, I'm sure.
09:27 I believe that, I don't believe that Shrewsbury would be paying any compensation.
09:31 I don't believe they're in a position to do that.
09:33 So I think they're probably going to be looking at the out-of-work market.
09:37 Steve Cottrell's available, Lee. Pardon? Steve Cottrell's available.
09:42 I don't do that to Nick. I don't do that to Nick.
09:46 He keeps Shrewsbury up, I mean, absolutely.
09:48 I mean, Steve Cottrell's a smooth operator. He's a good football manager.
09:52 And players working through a bit more will only make him more kind of threatening in front of goal.
09:57 So, I mean, yeah, Steve Cottrell is available.
10:01 I'm not sure that that relationship is going to be made to be fair.
10:06 But we are where we are.
10:07 But the one thing that Shrewsbury did need to do is they need to get on with it and they need to get on with it.
10:11 It needs to be taken care of this week.
10:12 And whoever is in charge needs to be in place for Saturday when they play against Northampton.
10:18 Ollie, thank you very much. It's obviously going to be a busy few days for you ahead.
10:21 Hopefully a new manager will be in by, like you say, that game on Saturday.
10:26 But for all the latest, make sure you log on to ShropshireStar.com.
10:29 Thank you very much, Ollie.
10:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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