Comment: Askey deserves credit for Shrewsbury Town's turn-around

Besides a tired performance in a high-tempo defeat away at Wycombe, Town picked apart Plymouth, out-scored Rochdale and knocked both Salford and Crewe out of cup competitions in just 14 days.

Fans in the safe-standing section perched high in the Salop Leisure South Stand, tipped in the summer to get the place really rocking, have been banging the Coyne drum non-stop and have been truly behind every blue and amber man – or orange depending on the day of the week.

Outside the stadium fans are now laughing and celebrating, and who can blame them after the remarkable run that has seen them win five of their last seven.

The change of atmosphere at Montgomery Waters Meadow is outstanding – but it would be unfair not to credit sacked boss John Askey with at least a slice of the pie that Coyne and Ramsay are enjoying.

An outsider could be forgiven for thinking Shrewsbury are a club with a permanent manager, with a well-drilled and creative way of playing high-scoring football, and with a striker looking likely to end the season well inside double figures.

However, Town are still without that first key component – and as much as fans would love Coyne and Ramsay to chance their luck at continuing this run until May, they simply do not want the job.

They do have the other two pieces to that puzzle, though.

Firstly, in Fejiri Okenabirhie they have a man who is looking better and better every time he takes to the field.

Now on a run of five goals in four games, his hat-trick in a six-goal thumping of Tranmere ignited something in the 22-year-old that has seen him showcase his ice-cold composure in front of goal and his crafty turn-and-go style that has made him a handful for defenders.

Secondly, Town’s narrow midfield diamond has been unchanged throughout their back-room shuffle and you would have to go all the way back to October’s defeat away at play-off chasers Fleetwood to find any dramatic change of system, aside from tinkers here and there.

In fact, nothing on the dressing room whiteboard has change since Askey last set foot in there.

Nor has the personnel on the pitch. Town’s diamond still packs the midfield as Josh Laurent, Ollie Norburn and notably Greg Docherty play off the hard work of Anthony Grant to turn any opposition pressure into an opportunity to bolt forward.

The 11 that started against Salford on Remembrance Sunday afternoon at the Meadow for Askey’s final hurrah were the same eleven that beat Rochdale, avenged the sacked boss at Moor Lane and, other than right-back Josh Emmanuel, comfortably beat Plymouth.

Clearly there has been a change in tempo. Town look more positive and comfortable in everything that they do.

The players breathe positivity when they talk about Coyne and Ramsay and the hard work the pair have put it at Sundorne Castle, but the duo are only implementing Askey’s very own system, with his very own players, in a fresh and courageous way.

There is no doubt that Town’s hierarchy had to make a decision on Askey when they did and, now that we have the benefit of hindsight, they seem to have made the right decision.

But it would be unfair to celebrate the positive performances of this Shrewsbury side without taking a moment to praise the man who signed Okenabirhie, Norburn, Grant, Aaron Amadi-Holloway and Dochery, who have all been instrumental to Town’s recent form, and the blueprint that he left in the Meadow dressing room for Coyne and Ramsay to pick up and run with.