Jonny Drury gives his take after Michael Appleton was handed the Shrewsbury Town job on a permanent basis.
Appleton stepped in as interim boss following the sudden departure of Gareth Ainsworth, with Salop destined for the drop.
Despite struggling for results, Appleton has overseen a change in Salop's style of play, and picked up his first victory in charge with an impressive at at Barnsley on Saturday.
Jonny looks at why sticking with Appleton, who has achieved success in League Two in the past, is the right move and why his track record in the transfer market should bring optimism to the Salop fans
Appleton stepped in as interim boss following the sudden departure of Gareth Ainsworth, with Salop destined for the drop.
Despite struggling for results, Appleton has overseen a change in Salop's style of play, and picked up his first victory in charge with an impressive at at Barnsley on Saturday.
Jonny looks at why sticking with Appleton, who has achieved success in League Two in the past, is the right move and why his track record in the transfer market should bring optimism to the Salop fans
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SportsTranscript
00:00Sallop fans, welcome to Shropshirestyle.com. My name is Johnny Drury here with a Shrewsbury
00:13Town update. After the news that Michael Appleton has finally penned a permanent contract with
00:19Shrewsbury Town, he signed a two-year contract alongside his assistant Richard O'Donnell. It's
00:26the news that Sallop fans have kind of been waiting for for a few weeks now after Appleton
00:30stepped into the breach after Gareth Ainsworth all but abandoned Shrewsbury a few months ago.
00:37Appleton has come in when Shrewsbury were, well, they were doomed for relegation, but he has
00:42made an impact, changed the style of play. They've been better to watch. The supporters
00:47have been positive about it in a season that has been an absolute disaster for Sallop.
00:52It was hoped that he would sign a new deal. I know a lot of supporters were behind that.
00:56There was bits and bobs going on behind the scene. I know Appleton mentioned after the
01:00Barnsley game that it may be the ongoing takeover talk that we heard about a little while ago
01:05that may be the hold-up with his deal. But finally, this afternoon at lunchtime, he has
01:09penned a two-year contract and will lead Shrewsbury Town into their first League Two campaign after
01:1610 years in League One. And it makes sense. It really does make sense. Myself and Ollie have
01:22talked about this. We talked about it on the Shrewsbury podcast this week, that it just
01:27seemed like the right fit, the sensible move. Appleton is someone who, you know, he's had
01:31quite a lot of jobs in football in terms of management. He's done well at a few of them,
01:35certainly in League Two. I know he's had success with Oxford. He's had success with Lincoln.
01:40And it looks to be a really good fit. It gives Town a bit of stability now, heading into what is going
01:46to be a, you know, another summer of kind of change. I know there's quite a few players that
01:50are under contract, but he'll be wanting to bring players in and move players on. He's already
01:55talked about that. And it sounds like a lot of planning has already gone in, certainly on his
01:59side of things, into preparing Salak for life in League Two. There is the takeover talk in the
02:05background that Shrewsbury fans and I'm sure Appleton hopefully comes to a head and goes through
02:10over the close season. But like we said, it's a good move. He's got a good track. You know,
02:17there's some jobs that Appleton's taken that haven't gone well, but he's, I think, I don't
02:22think there's many out there that Shrewsbury could have brought in with, who, you know, have got
02:28as maybe not as good a track record, but I don't think they were going to attract anyone kind
02:33of better than Appleton. And that's not a slight on Appleton. I think he's a very good manager.
02:37This summer is going to be a, you know, a real test and a real change for Salak. And hopefully
02:44recruitment's going to be massive. You know, recruitment's going to be huge. And that's
02:49what Appleton will now sink his teeth into. He can plan for next season. You know, if you
02:52look back over the times where he's been at the likes of Lincoln and Oxford, you know,
02:58had a lot of success in terms of recruitment, recruiting very good loan players that have
03:02gone on, you know, in some cases to be superstars, you know, I've just got a list in front of
03:06me. Some of the players that he brought in at Lincoln very early in their career, the
03:09likes of Morgan Rodgers came in from West Brom, look like what he's gone on to do. You
03:13know, they've managed to bring in people like Morgan Whittaker, who's having a very
03:16good championship career. Brennan Johnson, another one who's at the top of his game, you
03:19know, in the Premier League. It seems that Appleton's got quite a pull. He's got a lot
03:23of contacts and I'm sure he'll be leaning on them, you know, moving into this League
03:272 campaign. And hopefully Salak can get their recruitment right and kind of try and bounce
03:32back at the first time of asking. But the main thing I think for Shrewsbury fans this
03:37afternoon is that, you know, they've got an answer. They've got a bit of stability
03:40now going into the summer. You know, they're in a safe pair of hands and hopefully Appleton
03:44can continue and his assistant can continue in terms of stamping their authority on the
03:49Shrewsbury team. You know, we've already seen the change in style of play sort of culminated
03:53in that very, very good win at Barnsley on Saturday. So it's a jot, a bit of good news in what
04:00has been a season of disaster for Shrewsbury. But hopefully Appleton is the man to potentially
04:05lead them back to League 2. But as we say, Salak fans have got that stability. They've
04:10got an answer and as Michael Appleton. So the planning begins now for next season in League
04:162 for Salak.