Welcome back to “Floreat Salopia”, where my first season in charge of Shrewsbury Town is just about to get underway. This chapter will take you through August and September 2018, back when Britain was divided over Mike Ashley’s buy-out of House of Fraser and two YouTubers fighting each other… amongst other things.
If you missed Chapter 1 of this new FM19 story, then you might want to read that first before continuing. By the way, I’d like to thank all my readers for their incredible support when that first chapter went live last Friday morning. It’s always great to know that you’re following along.
HOMEGROWN HEADACHE
Shrewsbury had endured a rocky pre-season in the first chapter – and in many ways, that was no major surprise. Not only did the team have a new manager at the helm, but it also had about a dozen new players who needed to gel with existing squad members.
That explained why match cohesion was at a low level, thus impacting on players’ positioning and reactions. It would take a few more weeks of team-bonding and tactical sessions to build up the lads’ levels of understanding between one another.
Of greater concern to me was the English Football League’s homegrown rules. Every team’s 18-man squad for an EFL match needed to contain at least one player who’d been trained at said club for at least 3 years before their 21st birthday.
The number of ‘homegrown’ players in Shrewsbury’s first-team? ZERO.
You’re probably thinking, “What about your hottest prospects?” Ryan Barnett, Cameron Gregory, Lifumpa Mwandwe – none of them will count as homegrown until next season. George Hughes was about six weeks away from qualifying, but he wasn’t yet up to first-team standard and would instead be loaned out.
Such was the state of the previous regimes’ squad-building skills that I couldn’t meet the EFL’s homegrown guidelines without delving into the Under-18s squad. The best players we had who could immediately fulfil the criteria were left-back Zac Hartley and striker Jamaine Turner – a couple of 16-year-olds both rated at 1* Current Ability by my assistant.
For the foreseeable future, one of those lads would take a place on the bench for league matches. The alternative was only selecting six substitutes.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs BRADFORD CITY (League One, Match 1)
Shrewsbury might have had a chaotic summer, but Bradford had experienced even more upheaval between seasons. Nevertheless, I didn’t expect us to get off to such a quick start against David Hopkin’s Bantams.
Lee Angol celebrated his 24th birthday by putting us ahead after just 76 seconds. The former Mansfield Town striker broke clear of his marker to head in a left-wing cross from Shaun Whalley. Two minutes later, another of our summer acquisitions doubled our lead, with Abobaker Eisa clinically flicking in James Bolton‘s delivery from the right.
Greg Docherty almost made it 3-0 Shrewsbury after nine minutes, but a vital save from Richard O’Donnell prevented Bradford from sinking out of trace. City then recomposed to withstand subsequent Shrews attacks and keep themselves in contention.
Our finishing started to let us down in the second half, as we failed to kill Bradford off. They eventually got a goal back with 10 minutes remaining, when midfielder Jack Payne thundered wing-back Connor Wood’s cross from just inside our box. Thankfully, Joel Coleman kept our advantage intact with a late save from David Ball, and we held on for an opening-day victory.
CHARLTON ATHLETIC vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 2)
We entered The Valley and almost immediately came under a barrage of attacks. Fortunately, Charlton – who lost 4-2 at Sunderland on the opening weekend – could not take their chances during the first half. In fairness, that was in part down to some fine goalkeeping from Coleman.
Then, in the second half, we made the Addicks’ defence look as weak as the Black Cats had done eight days earlier. It began when their right-winger Mark Marshall pushed his Shrewsbury counterpart Alex Gilliead after Angol put an early free-kick into the penalty box. Lee could only fire his spot-kick straight at Jed Steer, but he reacted quickly to steer the rebound home for 1-0.
Angol was at the double in the 61st minute, applying the finishing touch after Docherty’s corner had been nodded across goal by Omar Beckles. Five minutes later, another header effectively secured us a comfortable home win. Gilliead got above a crowd of Charlton defenders to plant a header beyond an increasingly helpless Steer.
We then put the ball in the Addicks’ net for a fourth time, with three minutes to go. Gilliead didn’t join Angol in securing his double, as he was flagged offside after finishing Docherty’s deflected strike from close range. Even so, we were one of five teams to start the League One season with back-to-back wins, sitting 2nd on goal difference behind Burton.
BRISTOL CITY vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (EFL Cup, Round 1)
Bristol City had started the Championship campaign well, and they made a confident start against us at Ashton Gate. Some silky football saw Lee Johnson’s men take the lead after just eight minutes. Left-winger Callum O’Dowda collected a cross from midfielder Jens Hegeler and then dribbled past our right-back Josh Emmanuel before cutting the ball home from a tight angle.
It would take us until the 38th minute to draw level… and in bizarre circumstances at that. Charlie Colkett‘s corner was met by a couple of flick-ons before Beckles – captaining us in place of the rested Mat Sadler – slid the ball across the goal line. Such was the scrappiness of our equaliser that it didn’t even register as a shot on target!
We thanked our lucky starts again two minutes into the second half. Fejiri Okenabirhie‘s cross from the right took a deflection off City defender Lloyd Kelly and fell perfectly for Gilliead to send us 2-1 ahead. Our joy didn’t last, as Hegeler later struck an impressive shot from our ‘D’ to draw the Robins level.
With a thrilling match ending 2-2, it all came down to penalties. That was when Danny Coyne – making his Shrewsbury debut at the tender age of 44 years and 353 days – came to the fore. Jamie Paterson and Andreas Weimann had penalties saved by the evergreen goalkeeper, but Josh Laurent then hit the post with an effort that could’ve put us on the brink of victory.
As it was, a tense shoot-out went to sudden-death. At 4-4 after six kicks each, the two men who opened the scoring would eventually determine the outcome. O’Dowda’s penalty for Bristol City was clinical; Beckles’ riposte was sadly not. Max O’Leary tipped it away, and we were knocked out of the EFL Cup at the first round.
I wasn’t too disappointed that we were out, and neither was Omar. Rather than being disheartened following his miss, he was now extra-determined to put in a good shift when we resumed our league campaign at home to Blackpool.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs BLACKPOOL (League One, Match 3)
Having sat out the cup game, Angol returned to our starting XI and took little time to get going again. When Blackpool defensive midfielder Oliver Turton tripped Eisa after eight minutes, Angol lifted the subsequent free-kick over the wall and into the corner of the net.
At the other end, captain Sadler blocked a couple of shots midway through the first half. His strong defending would be vital, as we went on to double our advantage three minutes before half-time. Whalley got off the mark for the season, slamming Doug Loft‘s pass in at Tangerines goalkeeper Mark Howard’s left-hand post.
Angol had already hit the post prior to Whalley’s goal, and the Blackpool woodwork would deny us twice more after the break. Beckles’ header went behind off the top of the bar before a volley from Docherty rebounded off the post. We hadn’t been at our most clinical with our chances, but with the visitors faring even worse, we strolled to a third consecutive league win.
DONCASTER ROVERS vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 4)
We would crash back to Earth at the Keepmoat Stadium against a Doncaster side who’d won just one of their first four competitive matches this term. Alfie May got them off to the perfect start after 90 seconds, with the striker hammering in left-back Danny Andrew’s free-kick from 20 yards out.
The crossbar stopped Donny legend James Coppinger from doubling his team’s lead in the 15th minute, but we erased it three minutes later. Jermaine Anderson’s clumsy challenge on Whalley saw us awarded a penalty, which – unlike Angol’s previous penalty – was slammed straight past the goalkeeper. There was no stopping Lee’s scoring streak!
Both goalkeepers – Coleman especially – were kept busy throughout the match, and so too was our physio. Angol pulled a hamstring midway through the second half and was replaced with debutant Turner as a precaution. That was my final substitution, so it was disastrous when Whalley – who’d miscued a great match-winning chance in the 82nd minute – strained his hammy in the 89th. Shaun would be out for the next three weeks.
In stoppage, Doncaster took advantage not only of their numerical advantage, but also of a poor clearance from Luke Waterfall. Niall Mason intercepted his central defensive counterpart’s header and hoofed it over our backline to substitute John Marquis, who broke free and smacked in the clincher. Our unbeaten start to the League One season was all Rover.
LOAN WINDOW
Since the Premier League’s transfer window closed, lower-league clubs were allowed to acquire fresh blood on loan. We managed to ship seven of our players out to non-league sides for the season, with the option to recall them in January if necessary.
Most of the seven were youngsters who needed senior experience, but I also took the opportunity to get some of Steve Arnold‘s and Kieran Kennedy‘s wages off our bill. Between you and me, the National League was where they belonged.
After the Doncaster defeat, I decided to finalise what would be my only loan signing of the summer, joining the four loanees I’d inherited:
I’m almost as surprised as you that Brendan Galloway agreed to join us on loan for the season. It wasn’t very long ago that the athletic defender was an England Under-21s international whom Everton regarded as one of their hottest prospects. Galloway’s career had gone off the rails of late, but a left-back with his work rate and technical ability would surely thrive in League One.
My only reason for concern with Brendan was perhaps his positional awareness. Believe me, though, that he would be training extra-hard on that during the first few months of his Shrews stay.
LUTON TOWN vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 5)
Galloway’s debut came at Kenilworth Road, where Luton gave him and the rest of our defence a lot of work. We proved up to the challenge, with Beckles making several fantastic interceptions and Coleman some even better saves.
Mind you, we did benefit from more than a little luck. On-loan Leeds midfielder Jamie Shackleton, ex-Shrews striker James Collins, and left-back Alan Sheehan all hit the woodwork in the first half. The latter then tested Coleman from distance in the 54th minute.
We were losing all the midfield battles, so I sought to counteract that by switching to the 4-4-2 and going more direct with our counter-attacks. The switch paid off in the 68th minute, when Beckles blocked a shot from Collins and Gilliead launched the ball deep into Luton’s half. Lee broke free from his marker to reach the ball before powering it home from a tight angle, securing his sixth goal in just five league outings!
The Hatters had no response to our breakaway goal. Indeed, both Sadler and substitute Lenell John-Lewis threatened to put us further ahead before we settled for a 1-0 win. That latest victory kept us in 3rd place, as the embryonic League One table showed:
Shrewsbury might have enjoyed a strong start to last season, but even with a new manager and an overhauled squad, we were showing it was no fluke. The town’s most famous footballing son couldn’t hide his excitement.
Blimey. I don’t think Joe Hart has been this animated since that time he yelled at a ball boy at the 2014 World Cup!
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs BRISTOL ROVERS (League One, Match 6)
Since winning their first two league games of the season, Bristol Rovers’ form had steadily declined, and they would find themselves on the back foot again here. Despite hitting the crossbar in the 34th minute of a dominant first-half performance from us, Colkett would create the opening goal four minutes later. The loanee’s lofted free-kick was flicked into the net by Beckles for his third of the campaign.
Things were looking all right for us by the 76th minute, when full-back Emmanuel’s square ball set up winger Gilliead for a 2-0 home lead. Angol sadly wasn’t firing on all cylinders, so his scoring streak ended with him being substituted for Aaron Amadi-Holloway two minutes later.
I was confident that the game was won, but then Bristol Rovers stepped on the Gas. Ten minutes from time, Steven Sessegnon (Ryan’s twin) crossed for Kyle Bennett to slide in the Pirates’ first goal. They then pillaged a second shortly afterwards, as a missed interception from Galloway allowed Alex Jakubiak to volley in a cross from Ed Upson.
Mind you, letting a 2-0 advantage slip didn’t knock us off our stride. In the 89th minute, Gilliead flummoxed the Rovers defence with a clever arced run onto Colkett’s through-ball, which he lashed in from the edge of the box. Alex’s late winner had moved us back into 2nd behind a Barnsley side who seemingly couldn’t stop winning.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs MIDDLESBROUGH UNDER-23S (EFL Trophy, North Group B – Match 1)
Our fringe players got chances to shine in our Pointless Trophy opener against the Boro boys. 19-year-old midfielder Barnett twisted his knee on and couldn’t make much of an impact, but target man Amadi-Holloway did by scoring two goals that were almost identical.
Amadi-Holloway broke the deadlock six minutes before half-time, scoring a rebound after Dimitris Konstantopoulos had parried his header from a Colkett corner. Charlie and Aaron combined for another corner goal eight minutes after the break, but this time, the Welshman’s header looped straight over Konstantopoulos and into the net.
Middlesbrough got back in contention in the 80th minute, when Anthony Grant‘s miscued clearance of Layton Watts’ free-kick provided a simple finish for defender Nathan Dale. Nevertheless, we’d still done enough to take all three points.
PORTSMOUTH vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 7)
Portsmouth had drawn five of their first six matches in this league campaign, and they looked to be heading for yet another stalemate at half-time. Gareth Evans’ header from Jacob Butterfield had given the Fratton Park faithful reason to celebrate in the 17th minute. However, Angol silenced them a quarter-hour later by dribbling past two defenders en route to stroking in another goal.
After an even opening period, we took full control in the second, going 3-1 up within the first four minutes. Emmanuel’s corner provided Beckles with the vice-captain’s third goal of the season, before Angol prodded in Laurent’s weighted ball for his EIGHTH! It was still early September, for crying out loud!
Of course, Portsmouth couldn’t yet be written off. The game saw its third corner goal after an hour, with local boy Jack Whatmough jumping above Galloway to get the finishing touch to Andre Green’s delivery. That pulled them back to 3-2… until Colkett’s free-kick ricocheted off the Pompey wall and fell kindly for Beckles to score again! 4-2 to the Shrews!
Remarkably, that wasn’t the end of the scoring. While Angol couldn’t quite complete his hat-trick, he did play a part in us rounding off a 5-2 win. His flick-on from Emmanuel’s throw-in found Gilliead, who drilled the ball across Pompey’s area for Laurent to break his duck.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs SOUTHEND UNITED (League One, Match 8)
With us in 2nd place and Southend just two spots behind, I was expecting this to be a close contest. That being said, Angol was in such hot form that he could make any fixture look easy. He took just ten minutes to breach the Shrimpers’ defence, dribbling between their centre-halves to power in Laurent’s long-ball and record his ninth goal!
Both sides missed chances to either increase or erase our 1-0 lead before the break. Angol then returned for the second half eager to reach double figures, but he lasted just six more minutes before being hurt in a collision with Southend midfielder Luke Hyam.
Taking Lee’s place up front was Amadi-Holloway, and the Welshman would secure us the victory with his first league goal for the club. It came in the 77th minute header, with a deft header from Ollie Norburn‘s free-kick killing Chris Powell’s men off. With Sadler and Beckles so solid at the back, they couldn’t even muster a consolation goal.
That win took us to the top of League One, with 21 points from eight matches (which was 21 more than I picked up in my first eight matches during my previous Shrews career). However, all the talk on social media during and after the match was about one man:
Ronaldo? Messi? Lewandowski? Stefan Payne? PAH! Who needs them when we’ve got #Angoal leading the line, that’s what I say!
TROUBLE IN PARADISE?
Unfortunately, our preparations for our next league match at Scunthorpe were hampered by injuries to three players. John-Lewis was the first to fall, twisting his ankle in an Under-18s friendly as he tried to build up match sharpness. ‘The Shop’ would stay closed for another 2-4 weeks.
We then lost two players on the eve of our trip to Lincolnshire. Waterfall was out for around a fortnight with an ankle ligament injury, which he presumably sustained whilst dancing to The Stone Roses. Meanwhile, Norburn would miss the best part of a month after pulling a calf muscle.
Norburn might have been Shrewsbury’s record signing at £300,000, but he’d not enjoyed the best of starts to life in Shropshire. He was still trying to settle following his move from Tranmere, while Grant’s solid and assured performances had seen the older man emerge as my first-choice defensive midfielder. That wasn’t all, though.
While neither man was training particularly well, Anthony was at least taking my criticism on board whenever I pulled him up on that. In contrast, Ollie was a more volatile character who’d twice fallen out with me when I dared to slate him for slacking in training. He had also developed a slight concern about being “treated unfairly”.
Hmm. I’ve a feeling Norburn won’t last much longer here if he keeps up that attitude.
SCUNTHORPE UNITED vs SHREWSBURY TOWN (League One, Match 9)
Our five-game winning run was halted when we ran head-first into an Iron fist. I might have fulfilled Tinie Tempah’s lifelong ambition of going to Scunthorpe, but the hosts’ relentless attacks almost made me pass out.
For all of Scunny’s attractive football, they couldn’t get a shot on target until winger Josh Morris’ long-range effort was saved by Coleman just before half-time. It would take another speculative attempt early in the second half to break our resistance, with playmaker Matty Lund producing a magical 20-yarder. Frustratingly, that came about just seconds after a sloppy throw-in from Galloway was intercepted by James Perch.
While Brendan rued his latest mistake, our main man up front was also having an afternoon to forget. Aside from having a tame effort stopped by Matt Gilks in the 61st minute, Angol never really got into the game. Not even the half-time introduction of Amadi-Holloway could force a breakthrough, and we were shut out for the first time this season.
SHREWSBURY TOWN vs GILLINGHAM (League One, Match 10)
After the Scunthorpe defeat, I made major changes for the visit of rock-bottom Gillingham, who’d already lost seven league games out of eight. Coleman and Angol were benched – and Galloway dropped altogether – as I gave Coyne and Okenabirhie their first league starts. There was just the 22-and-a-half-year age gap between the newcomers.
Okenabirhie struggled to make an impact early on against a Gills side who were resorting to dirty tactics to try and stop their rot. Three of their players were booked at half-time, but once the minnows started to play some football, they looked capable of causing an upset.
A stunning long-range drive from midfielder Dean Parrett in the 64th minute found Coyne’s top-left corner and shook us back into life. Five minutes later, Amadi-Holloway – making another substitute appearance as Okenabirhie’s strike partner – delicately headed in a Ryan Haynes cross to level the scores.
The real turning point came after 76 minutes, with Sadler going down following an apparent push from Gills striker Brandon Hanlan. Despite failing to score from 12 yards in the EFL Cup a month earlier, Okenabirhie was trusted with this penalty, and he duly sent Tomas Holy the wrong way! Fejiri’s maiden Shrews goal proved to be the winner in a surprisingly tense contest.
And that left the League One standings as follows at the end of September:
That’s lower-league football for you, folks. While pre-season favourites Sunderland are showing no signs of halting their decline, Shrewsbury have defied all expectations to make another early push for promotion. Can we sustain that form throughout the season, or will cold reality hit us hard again? Time will tell…
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