Dave Edwards: Numbers add up on and off the pitch for Shrewsbury

I had a good look at the accounts and it’s obvious that in a Covid- affected year, there will be a huge impact on turnover.

Despite that, Shrewsbury are still very strong. There’s no debt and there’s more than £2million in the bank.

The chairman, Brian Caldwell and all the directors deserve so much credit. In an economic climate that has tested a lot of football clubs, Shrewsbury have managed to weather the storm of this crisis and come out the other end in a strong position.

They’ve obviously made a loss, but it’s not going to stop where the club can head in the next few years. That is all down to how they have been managed in the last 15, 20 years.

The chairman thinks so highly of the football club and is making sure it will never be put at risk. At times fans can be frustrated at how much the club spends on transfers, but at times like this you can see the terrific job at how Shrewsbury is run.

All fans looking at this will be very grateful. The club has a foundation to build on, in a pragmatic and strategic way, rather than just having a punt.

No-one really knows how long the chairman has left at the football club and it’s been well documented that he’s open to offers, but we owe him a huge amount of gratitude for what he’s done for this club over the years.

There is stability on the playing side and in the infrastructure with the stadium, the money spent on the training ground and facilities – it really is a club which is getting to a level that is Championship ready.

It will take a few years, but the infrastructure is there and ready. Huge credit goes to everyone – managers through the years and the chairman in particular – to put the club in this position.

Back on the pitch, no-one would have expected Shrewsbury to go to MK Dons and win but with the form they were in, Steve Cotterill would have hoped to cause an upset.

It could have quite easily happened after a tight first half with big moments that could have gone Shrewsbury’s way.

Ryan Bowman maybe should have squared to Dan Udoh and MK Dons then go up the other end and score. Those are the fine margins in football.

Steve Cotterill was forced into a substitution at half-time with Ethan Ebanks-Landell, which was disappointing, and hopefully it won’t be a long-term injury because he’s been very impressive this season in the back three.

The change in formation didn’t quite come off in the second half and MK Dons are a terrific footballing side who are on a good run.

They’re going for automatic promotion and you saw the gulf in the second half, with how good they were and where Shrewsbury are at.

But it could have been a very different story and Steve Cotterill will be disappointed and frustrated, but you can’t be too low off the back of three very good wins. I’m sure they’ll bounce back.

If they can put a run together in the final five games, they can rise places in the league and a finish of 12th just below will be a positive outcome.

Steve Cotterill and his staff will deserve real credit if that happens – it shows progression.

That’s all the fans want year on year, to see the club heading in the right direction.

I also wanted to give a quick mention to the guys at Shrewsbury Town in the Community.

They had a group of cyclists who left on Friday, stayed over and cycled again on Saturday to get to the game.

A big shout out to those guys that raised some great money.