Shrewsbury Town takeover plans fall through

Roland Wycherley has been in charge at Shrewsbury Town since succeeding Ray Bailey as chairman in 1996

Shrewsbury Town have been forced to look elsewhere for new investment following the collapse of a takeover deal from a potential American owner.

The existing deal on the table, to end long-serving chairman Roland Wycherley's 29-year ownership of the struggling League One club, had been under discussion since first being publicly announced in September.

Although the prospective new owner's application had not yet been submitted to the English Football League Owners and Directors 'fit and proper person' test, it had nearly reached completion following a six-month exclusivity period.

That period ends on Monday, 31 March, after which time Shrewsbury would be free to talk to any potential bidders.

One media report says it looks like the takeover has already collapsed as the interested party had decided the timing was not right due to a liquidity issue from another business. But, in reality, the proposed first-choice bidder wanted to spend the weekend ahead of Monday's deadline thinking it through.

Shrewsbury chairman Roland Wycherley was the driving force behind Shrewsbury Town's move from the Gay Meadow to their new 10,000-capacity Oteley Road home in 2007

Shrewsbury on the edge

This latest twist on Shrewsbury's uncertain future caps a bad week in a bad season for the Shropshire club.

Previous Town head coach Gareth Ainsworth, who knew that the proposed Town takeover was not guaranteed when he first took the job in November, left last Tuesday.

He was on contract until 2026 but a settlement fee was agreed between the two clubs for both him and his number two Richard Dobson to join Gillingham.

Little more than 24 hours later Michael Appleton was appointed as head coach until the end of the season but his first game ended in a 4-1 defeat by leaders Birmingham City on Saturday.

And Shrewsbury, 14 points adrift of safety with just eight games left, now face a further daunting test against another of Ainsworth's former clubs, third-placed Wycombe Wanderers, at Adams Park on Tuesday night.

If they lose that and again at home to Cambridge United next Saturday, that could conceivably be enough to relegate them with a month of the season left.

Wycherley's time as Town chairman

For a club of their comparatively limited resources, Shrewsbury have done well to enjoy a 10-year tenure of English football's third tier - and that has largely been down to the steady hand Wycherley has kept on the financial tiller.

After stepping up from his role as vice-chairman when previous Town chairman Ray Bailey stepped down in the summer of 1996, Wycherley suffered relegation to the fourth tier in his first season, then the even worse fate of relegation from the Football League in 2004.

But they were promoted back in a year later under then boss Jimmy Quinn - and Wycherley was also the driving force behind leaving their quirky but flood-ravaged old Gay Meadow home on the banks of the River Severn in 2007 to move to a new 10,000 all-seater stadium on the edge of town at Meole Brace - and a boom in average home attendances.

They won back their place in the third tier when they got promotion to League One under Micky Mellon in 2015 but for a side that only first entered the Football League in 1950, they are still judged by fans who hark back to the near decade they spent as a Second Division club (1979 to 1989), largely under Graham Turner and Chic Bates.