The 2016–17 season was Shrewsbury Town's 131st year in existence and their second consecutive season in League One after finishing in 20th place the previous season.
After a poor start to the season, winning only two of the opening ten league matches, manager Micky Mellon and his assistant Mike Jackson left the club, and four subsequent successive defeats under the caretaker management of goalkeeping coach Danny Coyne saw Shrewsbury rooted to the bottom of the league table. Grimsby Town manager Paul Hurst was appointed alongside assistant Chris Doig on 24 October 2016, eventually steering the club to an 18th-placed finish, three league places and two points clear of local rivals Port Vale who occupied the final relegation place.
The club also participated in the FA Cup, League Cup and the Football League Trophy. A team consisting of fringe and youth team players contested the Shropshire Senior Cup final, losing to AFC Telford United.
The season covers the period from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.
Transfers
Transfers in Date from Position Nationality Name From Fee Contract Length Ref. 1 July 2016 CM Gary Deegan Southend United Free transfer 2 years 1 July 2016 AM Louis Dodds Port Vale Free transfer 2 years 1 July 2016 CB Olly Lancashire Rochdale Free transfer 2 years + 1 year option 1 July 2016 CF A-Jay Leitch-Smith Port Vale Free transfer 2 years 1 July 2016 LB Ryan McGivern Port Vale Free transfer 2 years 1 July 2016 AM Jim O'Brien Coventry City Free transfer 2 years 1 July 2016 RB Joe Riley Bury Undisclosed 2 years 1 July 2016 AM Antoni Sarcevic Fleetwood Town Free transfer 2 years 15 July 2016 CB Adam El-Abd Bristol City Free transfer 2 years 1 January 2017 CB Aristote Nsiala Hartlepool United Undisclosed 2½ years 5 January 2017 LW Alex Rodman Notts County Free transfer 1½ years 20 January 2017 CM Bryn Morris Middlesbrough Free transfer End of the season
Transfers out Date from Position Nationality Name To Fee Ref. 23 June 2016 RB Matt Tootle Notts County Contract cancelled 1 July 2016 CF Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro Barnet Free transfer 1 July 2016 LW James Caton Southport Free transfer 1 July 2016 AM Jordan Clark Accrington Stanley Free transfer 1 July 2016 LB Mickey Demetriou Newport County Free transfer 1 July 2016 RW Elliot Grandin Free agent Free transfer 1 July 2016 CB Jermaine Grandison Colchester United Free transfer 1 July 2016 CB Nathaniel Knight-Percival Bradford City Free transfer 1 July 2016 CF Scott Vernon Grimsby Town Free transfer 1 July 2016 CM James Wesolowski Guiseley Contract expired 1 July 2016 CB Zak Whitbread Free agent Free transfer 11 July 2016 CF James Collins Crawley Town Contract cancelled 1 August 2016 CF Tyrone Barnett AFC Wimbledon Contract cancelled 24 August 2016 CM Richie Wellens Salford City Contract cancelled 4 November 2016 CF Andy Mangan Tranmere Rovers Undisclosed 9 December 2016 AM Antoni Sarcevic Plymouth Argyle Contract cancelled 31 January 2017 DM Ian Black Blackpool Mutual consent
Loans in Date from Position Nationality Name From Date until Ref. 8 August 2016 CF Ivan Toney Newcastle United 3 January 2017 15 August 2016 CF George Waring Stoke City 5 January 2017 15 August 2016 AM Moha El Ouriachi Stoke City 22 November 2016 31 August 2016 CF Sylvan Ebanks-Blake Chesterfield 9 January 2017 31 August 2016 RB Jack Grimmer Fulham End of Season 5 January 2017 CF Freddie Ladapo Crystal Palace End of Season 17 January 2017 CF Tyler Roberts West Bromwich Albion End of Season 26 January 2017 CF Stephen Humphrys Fulham End of Season 30 January 2017 CF Stefan Payne Barnsley End of Season 31 January 2017 RB Ryan Yates Nottingham Forest End of Season
Loans out Date from Position Nationality Name To Date until Ref. 29 July 2016 CF Kaiman Anderson Halesowen Town 11 January 2017 12 August 2016 GK Callum Burton Nuneaton Town 30 September 2016 19 August 2016 CB Dominic Smith Barrow 25 October 2016 12 September 2016 CF Ethan Jones Tranmere Rovers 4 November 2016 17 September 2016 CB Callum Grogan Radcliffe Borough 4 January 2017 29 October 2016 GK Shaun Rowley Chorley 4 January 2017 16 January 2017 LB Callum Roberts Hednesford Town 18 March 2017 18 January 2017 AM Jim O'Brien Ross County End of season 3 February 2017 CF Ethan Jones Stourbridge End of season 6 February 2017 CB Callum Grogan Skelmersdale United End of season 8 February 2017 CF Kaiman Anderson Oxford City End of season 24 February 2017 GK Callum Burton AFC Telford United 21 April 2017 17 March 2017 GK Shaun Rowley Slough Town End of season
New contracts & contract extensions Date Position Nationality Name Length Contracted Until Ref. 3 June 2016 GK Jayson Leutwiler 2 years 30 June 2018 9 June 2016 LB Junior Brown 2 years 30 June 2018 9 June 2016 GK Callum Burton 2 years 30 June 2018 15 June 2016 CB Callum Grogan 1 year 30 June 2017 5 August 2016 GK Mark Halstead 1 year 30 June 2017 8 February 2017 AM Ryan Barnett 2½ years + 1 year option 30 June 2019 11 April 2017 CM Abu Ogogo 1 year 30 June 2018 12 May 2017 RW Shaun Whalley 2 years 30 June 2019 30 May 2017 CB Mat Sadler 2 years 30 June 2019 30 May 2017 GK Shaun Rowley 1 year 30 June 2018 7 June 2017 CM Chris Gallagher 1 year 30 June 2018 7 June 2017 CM George Hughes 1 year 30 June 2018 7 June 2017 CF John McAtee 1 year 30 June 2018 7 June 2017 RB Callum Roberts 1 year 30 June 2018 7 June 2017 DF Ryan Sears 1 year 30 June 2018
Competitions
Pre-season friendlies
League One
League table
Matches
FA Cup
Shrewsbury Town entered the FA Cup at the first round stage. The draw was made on 17 October 2016, Shrewsbury will host Barnet at New Meadow. The draw for the second round will be made on 7 November.
League Cup Shrewsbury Town entered the League Cup at the first round stage. The draw was made on 22 June 2016, Huddersfield Town visited New Meadow. The draw for the second round was made on 10 August, Shrewsbury will travel to Sunderland.
EFL Trophy
See main article: 2016–17 EFL Trophy
Group stage Fixtures for the group stages were released on 27 July 2016. Shrewsbury were allocated a place in Northern Group G.
Shropshire Senior Cup Shrewsbury Town received a bye to the final. They will host AFC Telford United at New Meadow. The fixture was originally scheduled for 1 November 2016, but was postponed due to Shrewsbury Town's participation in the FA Youth Cup. The tie was later rescheduled for 4 April 2017, but then moved forward to the 14 March, to prevent a clash with Shrewsbury's rearranged league match with Millwall.
Player statistics
Squad statistics
As of match played 30 April 2017.
|colspan="14"|Players who left the club before the season ended:
Top scorers
As of match played 30 April 2017.
PlacePositionNationNumberNameLeague OneFA CupLeague CupFL TrophyTotal 1 MF 10 Louis Dodds 8 1 1 0 10 2 FW 9 Ivan Toney 6 0 0 1 7 3 DF 12 Junior Brown 5 0 0 0 5 FW 20 A-Jay Leitch-Smith 1 1 1 2 5 4 FW 27 Tyler Roberts 4 0 0 0 4 FW 19 Freddie Ladapo 4 0 0 0 4 5 DF 3 Mat Sadler 2 1 0 0 3 MF 7 Shaun Whalley 3 0 0 0 3 MF 6 Ian Black 3 0 0 0 3 6 FW 45 Stefan Payne 2 0 0 0 2 FW 9 Stephen Humphrys 2 0 0 0 2 DF 24 Adam El-Abd 2 0 0 0 2 7 DF 22 Aristote Nsiala 1 0 0 0 1 MF 23 Alex Rodman 1 0 0 0 1 MF 11 Jim O'Brien 0 1 0 0 1 DF 14 Jack Grimmer 0 1 0 0 1 DF 5 Olly Lancashire 1 0 0 0 1 DF 2 Joe Riley 1 0 0 0 1
a. Player left the club during the playing season.
Clean sheets As of match played 30 April 2017. NameLeague OneFA CupLeague CupEFL TrophyTotal1GK1Jayson Leutwiler10200122GK21Mark Halstead10012Total1120114
Disciplinary record As of match played 30 April 2017.
Name League One FA Cup EFL Cup EFL Trophy Total 1 GK Jayson Leutwiler 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 DF Joe Riley 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 DF Ryan McGivern 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 5 DF Oliver Lancashire 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 MF Ian Black 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 7 MF Shaun Whalley 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 MF Abu Ogogo 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 7 1 9 FW Ivan Toney 8 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 11 1 9 FW Stephen Humphrys 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 10 MF Louis Dodds 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 11 MF Jim O'Brien 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 12 DF Junior Brown 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0 14 DF Jack Grimmer 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 16 MF Antoni Sarcevic 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 16 MF Bryn Morris 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 17 MF Ryan Yates 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 18 MF Gary Deegan 12 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 14 1 22 DF Aristote Nsiala 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 23 MF Alex Rodman 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 24 DF Adam El-Abd 6 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 2 27 FW George Waring 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 27 FW Tyler Roberts 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 30 FW Ethan Jones 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 45 FW Stefan Payne 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Note: Two yellow cards in one match is counted as one red card.
a. Jim O'Brien's red card against Sheffield United on 19 November 2016 was later rescinded on appeal. b. Aristote Nsiala's red card again Swindon Town on 8 January 2017 was later rescinded on appeal. c. Player left the club during the playing season.
References