• 2 days ago
Ollie Westbury reflects and wraps up a day that saw Paul Hurst sacked as Salop boss, and chairman Roland Wycherley attempt to resign.
Transcript
00:00One of the first things that you experience when a football manager loses his job, especially
00:05when you work with him on a day-to-day basis, is sadness. And that's one of the things that
00:09you experience now that Paul Hurst has lost his job as Shrewsbury Town Head Coach. He
00:14was sacked after a poor start to the season from a Shrewsbury perspective. Eight points
00:21from 14 games in the league table, it leaves them second from bottom. They've also exited
00:26the FA Cup in the first round for the first time since 2013. So you can make no bones
00:32about it, it has been difficult. The winless run or the lack of wins this season, we've
00:37just seen I think three home wins over the course of the campaign, not the campaign,
00:42over the whole calendar year and one of those was when Matt Taylor was in charge on New
00:45Year's Day last year. So things have not been easy on the field but there are extenuating
00:52circumstances. Shrewsbury are going through a really tough time as a club in general with
00:57the difficulties that they're having off the field with their losses that they made earlier
01:03this year. So it's been a challenging spell. There are certain things that have been tough
01:08for town and there are certain instances and elements that have not helped the Shrewsbury
01:14Town boss. Perhaps they've not been able to tighten up at the back which has been something
01:19that has cost them. They've kept one clean sheet so far this season and that is very
01:25much a recipe for disaster. There's a few other things that have gone on that are perhaps
01:32ultimately he's the head coach and he makes the decisions on the team but it was strange
01:37to not see someone like a Tommy O'Reilly get a go until yesterday. But those are decisions
01:44that are just a matter of opinion. But what cannot be denied is that he leaves Shrewsbury
01:49with his head held high. He leaves with his relationship with the club untarnished after
01:55how successful he was in his first spell at the club back in 2017-18 before he left after
02:03that playoff final. So I think Paul Hurst will very much be remembered for all the good
02:09things that he achieved during his time in Shropshire but unfortunately he's been unable
02:16to turn around the Shrewsbury ship so far this season as they have really, really struggled.
02:24Is he a bit of a scapegoat? Probably yes. He's probably taking the flack and taking
02:29the blame for a lot of issues that are going on at the football club and that need to be
02:34resolved. It's going to be an interesting week as Shrewsbury prepare for their game
02:38against Burton Albion on Saturday. A huge, huge match. Will they have a new manager or
02:44new head coach in the dugout for that game? For all your info, for all your news, for
02:49all your comment and all your opinion, you've got to stay tuned to shropshire.com.

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