Rod Stewart says no to Shrewsbury Town concert

The club says it was close to signing the singer, but that the deal has fallen through at a late stage.

It is now looking for another big name to take his place for a summer concert next year.

Town chief executive Matt Williams has been in talks for several months with a promoter dealing with Stewart's US-based management company.

But Mr Williams today admitted hopes of the singer playing in Shropshire have been dashed as he is set to play eight stadiums across the UK next summer as well as arenas in Birmingham and Liverpool in December 2016.

Stewart's management company had been prepared to sign a contract but then decided it was not appropriate to play similar-sized venues within a reasonably close proximity.

Mr Williams said: "The promoter is extremely disappointed that despite our efforts his US management company have decided not to bring Rod Stewart to Shrewsbury Town."

"We were confident of it happening because it was the same promoter who I worked with closely and brought us Rod Stewart when I worked at Blackpool.

"Both myself and the promoter were extremely confident we could land Rod Stewart and we did actually get to the stage of of sending seating plans and capacities of each block and hospitality packages, so we did get quite far down the road.

"But the artist has a management company and they looked at the capacity and the location, and given he is performing at eight stadiums across the UK next summer and then arenas in December 2016 which are likely to include Birmingham and Liverpool and arenas in the north west, they didn't think it would work."

Mr Williams is still hoping to attract an equally big name to the Meadow.

"We're working with other promoters to try to attract other artists to see how that would work," he said.

"I'm reluctant to get the club to risk a significant sum of money if it was to be lost because no one would thank me for that.

"But it's something we're getting on with and we're speaking to other promoters who are very keen to put on other top acts because Elton John was a massive success.

"I've spoken to the council to see if there's anything we can do as a joint venture because it has the site at The Quarry where it puts concerts on and it's something we'll keep working hard on and keep pestering people about to bring someone here, if not next summer then the summer of 2017.

"It's something we really want to do because it will help the whole area and the local economy by bringing people to Shropshire."

During Mr Williams's time at Blackpool FC, Stewart headlined a concert in June 2014 which attracted a crowd of 25,000 to the club's Bloomfield Road ground, generating around £100,000 in profits. Shrewsbury Town are hoping to raise a similar sum.

Elton John performed at the Meadow in summer 2011, when around 16,000 music fans flocked to Shrewsbury Town.

Moves to sign up another pop star comes after fans pressed club officials about the possibility of more music concerts at the ground following the success of the Elton John gig four years ago.

The event was hailed as a success, but it has remained the ground's sole major concert to date.

Other major acts have come to Shrewsbury in recent years, but the likes of Jessie J and Travis performed at The Quarry in the town centre.

The concerts issue came up at a Shrewsbury Town Supporters' Parliament meeting in June as part of a wider discussion into how to the club could make more money out of corporate ventures at the ground.