A month in numbers
January has been and gone – and for everyone connected to Shrewsbury Town, it was anything but quiet. I don’t know about you, but I think I need to go and sit in a dark room for a few days just to recover!
So where to start? Well, let’s look at some of the key numbers.
While we are on the No 28, it was on Wednesday 28 January that Michael Appleton was relieved of his duties as Shrewsbury manager. And, for all else that has gone on in the month, it is this one decision that will ultimately decide our fate. Appleton struggled for results from the very start of his reign, and his position looked increasingly untenable by the beginning of November, only for what would prove to be a short run of good form that bought him more time.
Crucially, Appleton was backed in January. Six of the seven new arrivals were his, as he moulded a new look squad and changed Shrewsbury’s whole game plan. To then sack him five days before the end of the window and appoint a new manager with an entirely different philosophy could, kindly, be described as confusing.
Cowan has come in and, at least for now, returned straight to a back five. He’s not been afraid to make other big calls, bringing the so-called ‘bomb squad’ of Sam Stubbs and Mal Benning back into the fold, and now signing a new wing-back who played under him in a loan spell at Telford more than four years ago. On the latest Salopcast (2025/26 E12: Gav-in!), I called the appointment risky, and I stand by that. Cowan spent all his playing career in non-League except for his short spell at Shrewsbury, and has only managed two part-time teams. This is a huge opportunity for him, and he will have to prove he can cut it.
Yet, having had time to reflect, there is also a lot I like about the appointment. It would have been easy to pick an out-of-work boss from the lower league merry-go-round. It would have been ‘safe’ but it also may not have significantly changed our fortunes. If you listened to the last but one Salopcast (2025/26 Ep 11: Appleton Sacked!), you may have heard my fellow host Dan Hough point to academic research recently highlighted in the Financial Times that specifically came to the conclusion that changing manager/head coach rarely makes much of a difference at all.
Shrewsbury have certainly tried it in the last year or two, giving big names like Gareth Ainsworth and Appleton a shot. The net result was a relegation last season and a relegation battle this time around. All the evidence suggests that a more high-profile appointment – someone like Darren Moore, say – would not have changed much.
Cowan at least, is different, for two key reasons.
One: his coaching career is on an upward trajectory. At Brackley he delivered promotion via the National League North title, and this season was delivering stability in the club’s first ever season in the top tier of non-League football. It’s a record of which he can be very proud.
Two: he, and the coaching team he has built around him, look for all the world like they were always destined to manage Shrewsbury. To misquote the irreverent League of Extraordinary Gentleman, this is a local coaching team for a local club. They ‘get’ us, and they ‘get’ Shrewsbury Town.
Assistant Head Coaches Dave Edwards and Jamie Haynes are born and bred Shrewsbury boys. Cowan may be an Essex lad, but he has been in these parts for 20 years now, and has built his life here. He is, as Edwards has apparently branded him, a Surrogate Salopian.
Shrewsbury Town is a fractured club right now. The chairman makes no secret of his desire to sell, but the failure to actually do a deal and the alarming slide he has overseen in the last three years mean that the relationship between the club hierarchy and the supporters has never been worse. Against this backdrop, an ongoing slide into the National League was starting to feel almost inevitable.
In Cowan, we have a whirlwind of energy, who perhaps represents our best chance of beating the odds and starting to turn the Salop tanker around. He has already talked of unifying all parts of the club, and I think he has got the majority of the fanbase firmly on-side right now.
He probably doesn’t even remember, but I interviewed Gavin many times during his playing days at AFC Telford, when it was my job to report on that club for the Shropshire Star. I recall a fiercely competitive and driven man who had an intensity about him altogether different to the more jokey persona he sometimes presents on his podcast, In The Stiffs. That fierce will to win has stood him in good stead in his coaching career so far. I’m cautiously optimistic that it will now be to the benefit of Shrewsbury Town as well.
It's easy to argue that a change of manager right now doesn’t make sense. If the owner wanted Cowan, then he surely should have brought him in weeks earlier so that he could have made better use of the January transfer window to shape the squad more in his image.
Nonetheless, the club was busier in January than most supporters would have expected, and the squad we have assembled is undeniably stronger than the one in place on New Year’s Day. I’m not so sure that relegation rivals Newport County and Harrogate Town can say the same.
We started this piece with a lot of numbers, so let’s finish with one more: 22. Right now 22nd or better will do for Shrewsbury Town. Our only goal for the next three months is preservation of our Football League status. The summer will be when Cowan can truly get to work in building a team in his image, but he has to earn the right to do that by seeing us to safety.
I’ll be emerging from my dark room ready to cheer him on every step of the way.
So where to start? Well, let’s look at some of the key numbers.
- 1 – the number of wins we managed all month. The solitary success coming against fellow strugglers Harrogate. (Four defeats, by the way, including a 3-0 drubbing at home to Bristol Rovers and a 6-1 thrashing at Wolves in the FA Cup).
- 2 – the number of ‘Head Coaches’ we employed, with Michael Appleton getting the heave-ho on Wednesday last week, and Gavin Cowan appointed less than 17 hours later.
- 5 – the number of players to leave the club during January. Elyh Harrison returned to Manchester United, George Nurse moved to Cheltenham. Harrison Biggins was loaned to Newport County (because hey, why not help out a relegation rival?!), Alex Gilliead saw his loan at Carlisle extended to the end of the season, and Chuks Aneke “stepped away from his playing duties” and joined the club’s recruitment team.
- 7 – the number of new arrivals during the transfer window, of which three were permanent and four were loans. Arriving for fees (yes, we actually paid money!) were centre-back Isaac Lee from Flint Town and, right at the end of deadline day, wing-back Kevin Berkoe from Salford. Also arriving was free agent utility man Nick Freeman, who had recovered from 10 months out with an ACL injury. Joining on loan were striker Iwan Morgan from Brentford, striker Trey Ogunsuyi from Sunderland, defensive midfielder Temple Ojinnaka from Wolves and goalkeeper Matt Cox from Brentford.
- 25 – the size of the Salop first team squad at the end of the window as a result of Appleton and Cowan’s combined efforts. For the first time in what feels like years, there are genuine options in most areas of the pitch (see the helpful graphic below from my Salopcast colleague, Ollie Warner). Whether they are good options, only time will tell.
There are other numbers I could have included above. What about three: the slender gap to the relegation zone right now? Or 23: Town’s meagre points tally after 28 games of the campaign?
While we are on the No 28, it was on Wednesday 28 January that Michael Appleton was relieved of his duties as Shrewsbury manager. And, for all else that has gone on in the month, it is this one decision that will ultimately decide our fate. Appleton struggled for results from the very start of his reign, and his position looked increasingly untenable by the beginning of November, only for what would prove to be a short run of good form that bought him more time.
Crucially, Appleton was backed in January. Six of the seven new arrivals were his, as he moulded a new look squad and changed Shrewsbury’s whole game plan. To then sack him five days before the end of the window and appoint a new manager with an entirely different philosophy could, kindly, be described as confusing.
Cowan has come in and, at least for now, returned straight to a back five. He’s not been afraid to make other big calls, bringing the so-called ‘bomb squad’ of Sam Stubbs and Mal Benning back into the fold, and now signing a new wing-back who played under him in a loan spell at Telford more than four years ago. On the latest Salopcast (2025/26 E12: Gav-in!), I called the appointment risky, and I stand by that. Cowan spent all his playing career in non-League except for his short spell at Shrewsbury, and has only managed two part-time teams. This is a huge opportunity for him, and he will have to prove he can cut it.
Yet, having had time to reflect, there is also a lot I like about the appointment. It would have been easy to pick an out-of-work boss from the lower league merry-go-round. It would have been ‘safe’ but it also may not have significantly changed our fortunes. If you listened to the last but one Salopcast (2025/26 Ep 11: Appleton Sacked!), you may have heard my fellow host Dan Hough point to academic research recently highlighted in the Financial Times that specifically came to the conclusion that changing manager/head coach rarely makes much of a difference at all.
Shrewsbury have certainly tried it in the last year or two, giving big names like Gareth Ainsworth and Appleton a shot. The net result was a relegation last season and a relegation battle this time around. All the evidence suggests that a more high-profile appointment – someone like Darren Moore, say – would not have changed much.
Cowan at least, is different, for two key reasons.
One: his coaching career is on an upward trajectory. At Brackley he delivered promotion via the National League North title, and this season was delivering stability in the club’s first ever season in the top tier of non-League football. It’s a record of which he can be very proud.
Two: he, and the coaching team he has built around him, look for all the world like they were always destined to manage Shrewsbury. To misquote the irreverent League of Extraordinary Gentleman, this is a local coaching team for a local club. They ‘get’ us, and they ‘get’ Shrewsbury Town.
Assistant Head Coaches Dave Edwards and Jamie Haynes are born and bred Shrewsbury boys. Cowan may be an Essex lad, but he has been in these parts for 20 years now, and has built his life here. He is, as Edwards has apparently branded him, a Surrogate Salopian.
Shrewsbury Town is a fractured club right now. The chairman makes no secret of his desire to sell, but the failure to actually do a deal and the alarming slide he has overseen in the last three years mean that the relationship between the club hierarchy and the supporters has never been worse. Against this backdrop, an ongoing slide into the National League was starting to feel almost inevitable.
In Cowan, we have a whirlwind of energy, who perhaps represents our best chance of beating the odds and starting to turn the Salop tanker around. He has already talked of unifying all parts of the club, and I think he has got the majority of the fanbase firmly on-side right now.
He probably doesn’t even remember, but I interviewed Gavin many times during his playing days at AFC Telford, when it was my job to report on that club for the Shropshire Star. I recall a fiercely competitive and driven man who had an intensity about him altogether different to the more jokey persona he sometimes presents on his podcast, In The Stiffs. That fierce will to win has stood him in good stead in his coaching career so far. I’m cautiously optimistic that it will now be to the benefit of Shrewsbury Town as well.
It's easy to argue that a change of manager right now doesn’t make sense. If the owner wanted Cowan, then he surely should have brought him in weeks earlier so that he could have made better use of the January transfer window to shape the squad more in his image.
Nonetheless, the club was busier in January than most supporters would have expected, and the squad we have assembled is undeniably stronger than the one in place on New Year’s Day. I’m not so sure that relegation rivals Newport County and Harrogate Town can say the same.
We started this piece with a lot of numbers, so let’s finish with one more: 22. Right now 22nd or better will do for Shrewsbury Town. Our only goal for the next three months is preservation of our Football League status. The summer will be when Cowan can truly get to work in building a team in his image, but he has to earn the right to do that by seeing us to safety.
I’ll be emerging from my dark room ready to cheer him on every step of the way.
I admire and share the cautious optimism expressed here. It is of course a cliché that is the hope that kills you, but I believe it to be true, nonetheless. For supporters it is the only currency available to us. For this season, at least, 22nd place, or above, represents the sunlit uplands so often promised by charlatans. I hope we make it.
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