Steve Cotterill: Shrewsbury Town manager's departure confirmed by League One club

Shrewsbury Town manager Steve Cotterill has left the League One club after two and a half years in charge.

"I am confident this team will continue its progression next season," he said.

Cotterill missed the second half of the 2020-21 campaign after spending 33 days in hospital with Covid-19.

In a statement released by the League Managers' Association, Cotterill said: "Working through Covid was tough. I have to thank my incredible staff for their help throughout.

"When I joined Shrewsbury Town, I wanted to create a connection between the supporters and the team. Thankfully we achieved that.

"I would also like to thank the players. A fantastic group that gave me absolutely everything, right up to the last game of the season. The relationship I had with them was very special."

Cotterill, who began his managerial career at Cheltenham, also worked for Stoke City, Sunderland (as number two to Howard Wilkinson), Burnley, Notts County, Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest, QPR (under Harry Redknapp) Bristol City and Birmingham City (initially as coach to Redknapp) before making Shrewsbury his ninth job as a manager.

BBC Radio Shropshire reported last week that Cotterill was set to leave the club - and his exit was confirmed in a brief statement.

"Steve Cotterill has left his post as first-team manager," it said. "The club would like to place on record their thanks to Steve for all his hard work and commitment during the last two and a half years, taking us from a relegation place in League One to 12th in the table and also for working from his hospital bed during the Covid-19 pandemic."

Town's long-serving chairman Roland Wycherley said: "From time to time, circumstances arise when difficult and unpopular decisions have to be made to safeguard the very future of our club. We currently find ourselves in such a position and would be failing in our duty if we shirk those decisions."

"Going forward, management structures and new football strategies are already in place. The rationale for the actions we have taken will become evident in the coming weeks and months."

Cotterill's departure comes five weeks after the exit of chief executive Brian Caldwell, with whom he had a close working relationship - and in the wake of Micky Moore's departure from Cheltenham to take over as Town's new director of football.

The announcement of Caldwell's departure on 2 May also coincided with the appointment of former policeman Peter Brophy as the club's chief operating officer, as part of a newly created "football board".