Shrewsbury Town making promising progress over possible sale

Chairman Roland Wycherley said he was looking to sell the club earlier this year after more than 28 years at the helm.

The 82-year-old was born in the Castlefields area of Shrewsbury and was successful in the vending industry before taking over in 1996.

But speaking to the assembled press at the Croud Meadow, Dooley revealed new investors are looking at taking on the club, a situation he described as “promising”.

He said: “We are currently in talks with a number of different parties, so we have progressed that. Those talks are subject to NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) as they would be at this time but the conversations are ongoing.

“They are promising. Can we give any specific updates as to who they are? And what stage they are at? We can’t.

“But those conversations are happening as we speak. Part of that is we cannot disclose it now and, unfortunately, until something comes to fruition we won’t be able to go into that.

“Even if things do not come to fruition, we cannot necessarily give the outcomes afterwards. I know supporters would like that and anything we can communicate we will, but there are things that are bound by the terms of NDAs, but we are hopeful that something can be done.”

Back in January, Dooley revealed there were two parties interested in purchasing the club, but nothing came to fruition.

The CEO says the parties they are now in negotiations with are not the same as they were earlier in 2024.

And Dooley, who arrived from Sheffield Wednesday in October 2023, has explained how the process is further on than it was nine months ago.

He said: “It would be because we are now looking at going into an exclusivity period, but we have got to look at the right deal and make sure we are doing the right things for the football club.

“The fact they are subject to NDAs means there is not much more that I can say, but there are people we are talking to and once you get to that stage it is one step ahead from the talks that you enter into when someone first comes through the door.”

Dooley also said work has been done behind the scenes to try to make them a more attractive proposition.

He said: “From our perspective, we would like to get something done as soon as possible.

“We are in a position where we have made a lot of changes at the club to make us as attractive to investors as possible.

“We have opened the door to as many people as we can. We have got people actively in the market trying to help us with that journey of selling the club.

“Does that happen overnight? Certainly, it does not. These things are subject to due diligence processes – not only the purchase part but also making sure after all the work the chairman has done over the last 28 years he does not want to just sell it to the first person who knocks on the door without checking what their plans are for the club.

“In an ideal world, you would have something done before the transfer window because the owner could then come in and make a difference, in that window. From our perspective, we keep the talks ongoing and we try and do things easily and as quickly as we can.

“There is no time scale, unfortunately, of when it will be done.”

Wycherley has always maintained – through Dooley – he will only sell the club to the individual who will do best by the place he has overseen for the best part of three decades, and that continues to be the case.

“Ultimately, we want to sell the club to the right people,” the CEO continued. “We don’t just want to pass this on. It has been owned by the same person for 28 years, we want to make sure that we have that long-term succession as well.

“Once you get past a conversation, you go to an exclusivity period, where you deal with one party and continue that journey through due diligence and look to make a decision afterwards. That is the general process.

“Everything is subject to the owners’ and directors’ tests of the EFL, again that has a time period attached to it. You could do everything you wanted to do, but if it does not pass that test, then you would be back to the drawing board again.

“So everything is always taken with a pinch of salt.”