Brian Caldwell upset with Paul Hurst's imminent Shrewsbury Town exit for Ipswich

It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Salop, losing the League One play-off final to Rotherham and then confirming they had 'reluctantly' given Hurst permission to speak to the Tractor Boys.

Hurst had long been the favourite for the Portman Road role and now it appears just to be a case of getting the paperwork completed.

"I got a call from Paul's agent yesterday morning, saying he'd had an approach from Ipswich," said Caldwell, on BBC Radio Shropshire.

"In the meantime, he had spoken to Paul and Paul had intimated he'd like to talk to Ipswich – we found out after that and I've got to be honest, that's actually an illegal approach.

"We were all bracing ourselves. It's not surprising, but it's disappointing.

"We did so much for Paul over the time, everything he wanted. The approach has been for the two of them (also wanting assistant Chris Doig).

"Paul is an ambitious manager and wants to manage at the highest level possible.

"I've got to say I was disappointed, and I told Ipswich that yesterday.

"I am disappointed – just the way it has panned out.

"I do believe, in the past couple of weeks, stuff has probably gone on behind the scenes.

"In football there's a lot of things behind the scenes, behind people's backs, but sometimes you're looking for a bit of loyalty.

"If anything comes up, for me personally, I'd always be honest with the chairman (Roland Wycherley) about it and speak straight.

"If something has been going on behind the scenes, that would be disappointing.

"It's difficult, the last thing he wants to do is admit something has gone on behind the scenes as that would potentially be an illegal approach.

"To get a call from the agent instead of Ipswich yesterday morning was disappointing, but that's football for you.

"You just have to move on to the next step – we take it on the chin and move on."

Hurst took Town from relegation favourites to serious promotion contenders, eventually finishing third behind Wigan and Blackburn.

Sunday's final with Rotherham was their second trip to Wembley, after also reaching the Checkatrade Trophy final – losing to Lincoln.

"It has been speculated for a number of weeks now," said Caldwell

"He's got a rolling contract with us. He flew to Dubai yesterday and spoke to the chairman and I after we agreed the compensation and thanked us for everything.

"I wanted it over quickly. I'm sure the contract (at Ipswich) is probably in place already.

"It's a waiting game now until we get that final confirmation from Ipswich that everything has been agreed."

Caldwell insists goalkeeping coach Danny Coyne and physio Chris Skitt were not aware Hurst was set to speak to Ipswich until they read about it on social media.

On if some of the players will follow Hurst to Suffolk, Caldwell said: "There's a squad a players for next season.

"We've got a good group there that realise we've got our backroom team as well.

"Again, I was a bit disappointed for them yesterday.

"We had to release the news at half nine last night as Sky were going to run it.

"We quickly decided with Ipswich that we needed to put something out last night.

"Danny Coyne and Chris Skitt immediately were on to me saying they didn't know anything about it – they found out on Twitter, which is not the ideal scenario.

"I thought Paul might have contacted his backroom team, that was disappointing as well.

"But that's football for you, I guess.

"Paul has been linked with every job in the country for the past year or so because of the success of the team.

"We were always looking at a plan B, me and the chairman were always conscious of that.

"We can't really do anything until we know he's definitely away."

Caldwell added: "Paul spoke to a number of players after the game on Sunday.

"We spoke last week about what he wanted to do – whether it was in the Championship or League One.

"We're in a bit of a limbo situation now, the ones out of contract, but we've got a lot of players on long-term contracts.

"It is tough, spending Bank Holiday Monday on the phone all day.

"It's been a really tough 48 hours for the club. You're almost in the Championship, one game away.

"We've had a lot of support, it's been fantastic. We need to ensure we capitalise on that, continue."

Ipswich Town have since responded to the claims of the 'illegal approach' claiming that they have stuck to guidelines from the EFL.

An Ipswich Town club spokesman said: “We have total respect for Shrewsbury but feel we have conducted ourselves under EFL guidelines.

"We have also agreed an attractive compensation package with Shrewsbury should Paul become Ipswich Town manager.”