Former Blues boss Paul Hurst has been reappointed the head coach of League One Shrewsbury Town.

Hurst left the Shrews, who he had taken to the League One play-off final the previous season, to become Town manager in the summer of 2018 but his spell lasted only 15 games and one win before he was sacked in the October.

The 49-year-old will again be joined at the Croud Meadow by his Town assistant Chris Doig, the duo having left Grimsby Town after just under three years in charge last October.

“It was a tough decision to part company with both Matt Taylor and Marcus Bignot [former head coach and assistant],” director of football Micky Moore told the Shrewsbury club site. “Both of them did their best to bring results to the football club. 

“But following the game at Peterborough [a 2-1 defeat], I sat down with the chairman, and we decided a change was needed for us to move forward. 

“Once that was agreed I presented a shortlist of names to the chairman - following the same procedure as when we appointed Matt. 

“I recommended Paul Hurst would be the standout candidate and the chairman agreed.  Having managed against Paul since 2009, we have a long-standing relationship. 

“I have followed his career carefully over the years and the discussions we have held over the last few days have been really positive. 

“I look forward to having a great working relationship with both Paul and Chris going forward. 

“We are delighted they have decided to return to the football club. They both enjoyed an outstanding time here previously and we are looking forward to welcoming them back.” 

Shrewsbury are currently 20th in the third tier and have lost six of their last seven.

Photo: TWTD

ArnieM added 12:48 - Jan 24 Good for him and I hope he does well there. Player power here and no support from Evans undid him here at Town, but he identified the problems at the club but was powerless to do anything about it in my view.
10

PortmanTerrorist added 12:57 - Jan 24 Right Club, hopefully right time for a decent guy who knows how to do the job. Obviously wrong Club and wrong time with us, but glad he has not had his career blighted by mistrusting ME and the state he found us in! You have to wonder how he would get on now with us, but that opportunity to step up to a Club like ours does not come around often, so he probably felt he had to take it, but he does have time on his side to have another crack at the Championship. At least he never told us all to F off on TV !

9

ThaiBlue added 12:58 - Jan 24 Another Appleton bloody rubbish
-4

BulgarianBlue added 12:58 - Jan 24 Although I have some sympathy for him, I don't think he did well for us. His signings were very poor, which left us extremely light up front. And strange decisions like dropping Bart for the Norwich match. Was out of his depth and could have done better, even though the situation was far from ideal, I agree.
6

dirtydingusmagee added 13:00 - Jan 24 no feelings about him tbh but it was a bad time at the club good luck to him .
5

dirtydingusmagee added 13:02 - Jan 24 I looked in for a juicier bit of news , but looks like will have to wait a while .
4

dazza added 13:14 - Jan 24 Ultimately Paul Hirst isn’t a bad manager - he has a decent record. Why didn’t it work out at ITFC, it was simply that he tried to change too much too fast (in terms of players and style) - this particularly the case with bringing through lower league players. Let’s face it Paul Cook didn’t quite pull it off either during his time, and may have had a similar outcome had we been in the championship. One or two at that level would have been about the max for a championship side. Whilst ME would have to some degree tied his hands on the job brief, a more experienced manager at championship level would have followed a slightly more slower approach. However, it’s like all of us - you only learn through mistakes. Shame we had to experience this - but I don’t particularly hold a grudge.

4

Saxonblue74 added 13:15 - Jan 24 RIP Shrewsbury.
0

dazza added 13:22 - Jan 24 Just to add - imagine some will reflect on what KMc has done - but he has been able to recruit players from the leagues above - not below. Yes he is an outstanding coach and we are blessed to have him, but he probably wouldn’t have been able to achieve what he has without the financial backing.
1

Nomore4 added 13:27 - Jan 24 The cozy club was his demise…..
1

SickParrot added 13:39 - Jan 24 I agree with Dazza - Hirst probably tried to change to much to quickly. I have also heard his assistant Doig described as a bully. I suspect that this may explain why he lost the support of most of the players so soon.
2

barrystedmunds added 13:59 - Jan 24 If one thing has been evident over the last 18 months is the need for stability. KMcK has still pretty much got the squad he inherited but has managed change progressively. Hurst tried too much change too soon and paid the price.
1

VanDusen added 14:06 - Jan 24 If it was just Hurst fine. But he insists on taking that bully Doig with him. I remember seeing him barking rudely at all the players when sitting behind the bench at the Crawley friendly in 2018 and thinking this is going to be trouble. I'm not surprised there was player power - who wants to be treated like dirt by a man who is nowhere near your ability when you've just return from a World Cup like Knudson and Bart just had at the time. Probably works with lower league jack-the-lads, though, which is why they've done well at smaller clubs.

2

Bluearmy_81 added 14:19 - Jan 24 Just another manager who fans blamed at the time while simultaneously giving an eternal patience pass to ME who was the true cause of the clubs fall…
3

Bazza8564 added 14:21 - Jan 24 Quite surprised at this given the fuss they made when he walked out on them last time....
0

blues1 added 14:37 - Jan 24 ArnieM. To be honest, you can't blame Evans for his demise here. He,was backed by Evans. Hurst signed 8 players that summer. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of signing all lower league players rather than a mix of lower lge/ experienced championship players. Which may well have worked for him. But that many lower lge players was too much of a risk, as it turned out.
0

Europablue added 14:43 - Jan 24 dazza A big part of KM's success is the backing he got, but he's also a very good man manager at any level. He also has the right people around him to positively motivate players. He wouldn't have achieved what he is managing now with those players, but I'd imagine he would have kept us in the league and gradually improved us over time. The thing is, being in League One made us an attractive investment opportunity, so it probably did us a good turn in the long run to be relegated. Every step taken brings you to where you are now, so there's no room for holding grudges as we are in a good place now!

1

chepstowblue added 14:52 - Jan 24 Commiserations to Shrewsbury. A truly horrible appointment that would deflate any fan. I can imagine the Shrews fans texting each other now in absolute despair.
0

runningout added 15:09 - Jan 24 not sure it’s worth dwelling on a horrific time for our once great club
1

KMcBlue added 15:42 - Jan 24 Must interview well...
1

barryblue added 15:46 - Jan 24 I actually thought he was quite hard done by. He took over a side leaking goals like a sieve and playing crap football, and did what any experienced manager would do first, and that was stop us leaking goals by making us much more solid defensively. He was on to a hiding to nothing really and some of his buys were not bad, Jackson is still with us,,. He was certainly not as bad as the berk that followed him , now, he really did set us back

0

Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 16:23 - Jan 24 Signed League 1 players (and overpaid), transferred out Championship players. No surprise we ended up in League 1.
3

BonchosBicycle added 18:32 - Jan 24 As well as Jackson, Donacien is also still with us so we certainly got decent value out of two of his "crap" signings.
1

Gforce added 19:04 - Jan 24 Good luck to him,as others have said, I think he tried to change too much too soon. I can't believe it's six years since he left, scary where the time goes.
0

rkl added 19:32 - Jan 24 Don’t wish him good luck at all
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls