Shrewsbury Town MD exits

Shrewsbury Town Football Club's managing director has left his post with immediate effect after 18 months with the club, it was announced today.

Rob Bickerton joined the club in January last year after stepping down as chairman of Macclesfield Town, where he had been for seven years.

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But today Roland Wycherley, Shrewsbury Town's chairman, announced that Mr Bickerton was leaving the club "with immediate effect". And he said the structure of the club's "off-pitch" operations and staffing would now be reviewed, with former chief executive Steve Wellbeloved brought in to help with the process.

Mr Bickerton said he had no comment to make other than to confirm he had left.

Mr Wycherley said: "Rob has left by mutual agreement and we will not be making further comment other than to thank him for his efforts during his time with us.

"This is an important stage in the club's development, so the board will take this opportunity to conduct a thorough review of all off-pitch operations and staffing. I have asked club director Derek Passant and former chief executive Steve Wellbeloved to conduct this review and report back to me and they will start work on this immediately.

"It is now two years since we moved to the new stadium and it is vitally important that we maintain momentum and develop the business so that it provides the necessary resources to succeed on the pitch."