Category: Floreat Salopia

Shrewsbury Town had lost in the League One play-offs three years in a row before the 2020/2021 campaign. This time, I was even more determined that we would be celebrating promotion to the Championship come May. As it transpired, Salop were involved in one of the most dramatic finishes to any EFL season.

As with all my season reviews, I’ll start off by taking you through our results in League One and the cup competitions, before looking through various awards and statistics. This will inevitably be another long post, but I would appreciate it if you read until the end.

Oh yes, and if you’ve not gone through Part 8 yet, then PLEASE read that first. I’m honestly not exaggerating when I say it’s THE most important chapter in this story.

Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season Review 2020/2021” →

The longest, most hectic season of my tenure at Shrewsbury Town is coming to a dramatic conclusion. With just one match to play in the League One season, we still have a chance of securing automatic promotion to the Championship. (On that note, if you’ve not read Part 7 yet, then you really should.)

I’ve already had two failed attempts to take this Shrews team into the second tier. If we were to fall short again, having been in such a strong position only weeks ago, I’m not sure I would have the stomach to grind through another campaign in League One. As the title says, it really is PROMOTION OR BUST. Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 8 – PROMOTION OR BUST” →

After a fantastic February, Shrewsbury Town fans are growing ever more optimistic that 2020/2021 will be a promotion season.

It’s now up to me and my players to carry our excellent form over into March and April, and potentially overtake Coventry City and Charlton Athletic. It won’t be too easy, mind, as we face both of the top two away from home over the coming weeks.

We’ll also be looking nervously over our shoulder, with several teams primed to take advantage of any slip-ups and potentially wipe us of the top six. In a league that’s as tight as League One, there’s a very thin line between glory and failure… Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 7” →

Welcome back, dear readers. It’s been over a week since I last posted an update, leaving my “Floreat Salopia” story on a cliffhanger.

After a moment of madness saw me quit out on an impending defeat against Oxford, I asked you whether I should continue managing Shrewsbury. Seven of you voted on my Twitter poll, and the result was unanimous: the show will go on!

You might remember that I made a promise in the previous chapter. I’m a man of my word, so before we can progress any further, I must replay the Oxford game until they win again, even if it massively dents my team’s promotion challenge. So that’s where we will pick up the story… Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 6” →

Okay, so you’re probably thinking, “Hang on? The End? Already? But we’re only midway through the third season!”

I’ll tell you now that today’s chapter is not going to make pleasant reading. It’s January 2021, and results at Shrewsbury Town – who ended 2020 on such a positive note – are about to take a major turn for the worse. So much so that I am eventually and shamefully pushed to my breaking point.

At the end of this post, I will seek your feedback on… ‘what happened next’… and I will ask you, “What happens next?” Can I possibly continue as Shrewsbury manager, or is it time to call this a story and do something else? Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 5 – THE END?” →

And so we’re back – a bit earlier than anticipated, for reasons that will become clear over the coming days. It’s just as well that I write my blog posts a fair bit in advance, isn’t it?

Anyway, Shrewsbury Town head into the closing stages of 2020 sitting 4th in League One, and with an automatic promotion place on the horizon. This part includes eight league matches, the continuation of our Pointless Trophy pursuit, and – firstly – our FA Cup opener at home to Newport. Let’s hope they’re as generous as they were last time!

(Obviously, if you haven’t yet read Part 3, I’d suggest you do that first before carrying on here.) Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 4” →

Brexit is in a mess, nobody knows exactly what’s happening, and – as things stand – the United Kingdom is still in the European Union. My Football Manager 2019 career appears to be imitating real-life pretty accurately!

It’s now September 2020. Nearly 12 months have passed since I got a message in-game that the UK would be leaving the EU. Since then, I haven’t heard or read anything about Brexit. Either there’s been an unexpectedly lengthy delay, or my save has somehow bugged out, which would be slightly inconvenient. Just like Laura Kuenssberg on BBC News, I’ll let you know if anything big happens.

This month also sees Steven Gerrard begin his reign as England manager, having left Rangers to take over from Gareth Southgate following Euro 2020. I’m sure Stevie will be a huge success, just as long as he doesn’t lose his first home game 6-0 to France… hey, wait a minute!

Meanwhile at Shrewsbury, we’re looking to climb up the League One table after a stuttering start to the new campaign. We’ve got 13 matches to get through over the next two months, but before that, I want to introduce you to a new signing I made on deadline day. Well, when I say ‘new’… Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 3” →

The Shrewsbury Town players have shaken off their post-season rust and are now raring to go for the 2020/2021 campaign. Having made significant changes to the side that I inherited two years ago, I’m feeling quite bullish about our chances of claiming promotion from League One.

We’ll play our first seven matches of the league campaign in this chapter, as well as beginning what will hopefully not be another brief run in the EFL Cup. Before all that, though, let’s have a closer look at the team… Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 2” →

(No, this is not an April Fool! This really is a new chapter in my “Floreat Salopia” story on FM19!)

My tenure as Shrewsbury Town manager is having a bit of a Groundhog Day feel about it. For two seasons in a row, we have stayed primarily in the League One play-off places, only to falter in the Semi Finals. Another campaign like that, and we might have to adopt “Heartache Avenue” by Birmingham one-hit wonders The Maisonettes as our official club anthem!

Having consistently proven ourselves as one of the best teams in our division, surely we’ve got to take that next big step into the Championship sooner rather than later. Rest assured, I’ve been hard at work in the transfer market, looking for lower-league bargains who can turn this group of nearly men into… well, men.

So let’s not waste any more time. Here’s what we’ve been up to over the summer… Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season 3, Part 1” →

I have now spent two years at the helm of Shrewsbury Town. While we didn’t exactly suffer from ‘second season syndrome’ in 2019/2020, it was perhaps a disappointment compared to what was such an encouraging debut campaign.

In this post, we’ll assess our fortunes in League One, as well as the domestic cup competitions (even though I’d rather not write any more about our Pointless Trophy debacle). Then we’ll have the usual awards, stats and youth development updates, as well as my provisional plans for what will surely be another busy transfer window.

Oh yes, and I’ll cap things off as ever with a general season round-up, looking at all the goings-on in the English leagues and beyond. If you’re a Chelsea fan, you will probably want to skim over that. Just a thought.

Continue reading “Floreat Salopia: Season Review 2019/2020” →