Aiden O’Brien settling down after a turbulent time with Shrewsbury

Signing the forward was a coup for Salop in the summer of 2022 when he arrived as a free agent.

The former Portsmouth man prepares to take on his old side today in League One, and the forward has spoken about the ‘emotion’ in football after a turbulent last 18 months.

“It is a very emotional game, football,” O’Brien said. “People’s livelihoods are on the line. People get really emotional, and people can snap and people can say things and they can react – it happens everywhere.

“You see it all the time in media and in the Premier League. It is bound to happen and sometimes it does not end well for you or you might take a wrong turn and things might happen that have a negative effect on you. That is what has happened.

“I like to base my character as a bubbly, nice, down-to-earth, hardworking person in and around the changing room, and I think the majority of people you would ask would say I am that person.

“So that is the main thing for me, if 95 per cent of people are saying that I am that then I am happy with that.”

After being on loan at Sutton United for the first part of the season the forward is now back in Shropshire and is living with his good friend Carl Winchester.

And he has gone into some detail about their relationship and why they get on so well.

“Yeah, we were at Sunderland together. We clicked well there,” he added. “I am staying with him now actually, me and him are sharing an apartment.

“I am the chef, so I sort out the meals. But I don’t know why we just really click together, we just have this nice bond. He is not a big eater, funnily enough.

“He likes eating, and then stopping a bit, and I am looking at his plate thinking ‘Are you going to finish my food or don’t you like it?’.

“I like a bit of pasta before a game so I will usually do a chicken pasta and a bit of garlic bread to carb up before a game, but other than that through the week, whatever he wants I will cook it.”