EFL club confirm major takeover breakthrough | OneFootball

Shrewsbury Town look to be poised for a change of ownership in the near future

Shrewsbury Town look to be heading into a new era in the very near future, with the Independent Football Regular approving of a takeover of the club.

Salop are in their second season back in League Two after a lengthy stint in English football's third tier, which lasted 10 years and peaked with a third-placed finish and play-off final defeat in 2017-18.

And for 30 years, the Shropshire outfit have been owned and ran by Roland Wycherley MBE, with the club then in £750,000 worth of debt as a third tier club, and he's been at the helm ever since, having overseen the move to the New Meadow stadium in 2007.

How much longer the 85-year-old will be the owner of Town though remains to be seen, but it looks as though a change of power is coming.

Shrewsbury Town closing in on takeover after 30-year ownership

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It was reported back in June that a takeover was close, but on September 7, Shrewsbury have confirmed that there has been a big development in regards to the ownership of the club, and the era of Wycherley could be coming to a close.

An American consortium - whose actual identities have not yet been disclosed but will soon be known due to all determinations being made public - have been approved by the Independent Football Regulator to become owners of Shrewsbury, meaning their takeover bid can progress if a deal is there to be signed off on.

Wychlerley is committed to finalising the takeover as soon as it's possible, according to the Salop official statement, and it should be able to get done in the near future - albeit any investment won't be able to help Town manager Gavin Cowan immediately with the transfer window now closed, unless he leaves room in his squad list for free agents.

Shrewsbury Town fans react to big takeover update

Despite it being five years since Wycherley admitted he was searching for a new owner to pass the baton of Salop on to, it's taken a while for a deal to actually come to fruition - and fans have been reacting to the news.

This Shrewsbury fan meanwhile believes that the fans themselves have been a big help to making a takeover finally happen after making their voices heard.

After a group of fans came together this weekend to question why Wycherley was still owner of the club, this supporter thinks that the timing for this announcement coming out is a bit suspicious.

Not everyone is a believer though, with this supporter choosing to wait until official confirmation of the American consortium arriving before making judgement.

Can Shrewsbury Town unlock their potential under new ownership?

Whilst the identities of the American consortium are not yet known, Shrewsbury fans have been clamouring for change for a while now - and they finally look set to get it.

Wycherley has had a good 30-year stint at the helm, but at the age of 85, it's now probably in everyone's best interests that he moves onto retirement now and someone else runs the club - even if he has a lot of love for Salop.

Traditionally, the Shrews haven't been a massively supported team, with their average over the last few years fluctuating from the 6,400-mark in 2022-23 to around 5,600 last year in League Two.

There's a relatively big catchment area that the prospective new Shrewsbury owners can tap into, even if Wolves are around 32 miles down the road in the West Midlands, but with the town having a population of over 76,000 as of 2021, more fans could be brought through the door not just with the right marketing, but also with results on the pitch.