Shrewsbury Town Club Profile

Shrewsbury Town Football Club was formed in 1886 but they did not gain entry into the Football League until 1950, when elected into Division Three North.

The following year they were transferred into the southern section and stayed there until Divisions Three and Four were established in 1958.

The Shrews then took their place in Division Four and the arrival of striker Arthur Rowley heralded a bright spell or the club.

Rowley was signed from Leicester City where his gooalscoring exploits were legendary and in his first year at Shrewsbury he set a club record of 38 goals in a season, helping the Shropshire outfit to promotion.

Rowley would end up the club’s all-time record scorer with 152 before calling time on his career in 1965.

In their first season in Division Three, Shrewsbury finished third although only two clubs were promoted at that time. They suffered the same fate the following season, finishing just one point behind Bury and two adrift of champions Oxford.

By the mid-1970s Town were back in the Fourth Division but by the end of that decade they had reached the dizzy heights of the Second Division after two promotions under manager Graham Turner.

Life in the second tier was always going to be a struggle but they did manage ten years at that level before their relegation in 1989.

In 1992, the club were relegated once again and in 2003 disaster struck when the club lost their Football League status and were relegated to the Conference. Fortunately, the Shrews bounced back at the first time of asking and were promoted back to the Fourth Division via the play-offs.

In recent years there are signs the club is on the up again after moving to their plush New Meadow Stadium two years ago at the start of the 2007/08 season.

The club reached the play-offs in 2008/09 under Paul Simpson, and the former Manchester City midfielder has been rewarded with a new contract already this term after an impressive start to the new campaign.