Former manager looks back on his time with Town
Former Shrewsbury Town Manager Micky Mellon has today spoken to ShrewsWeb about his fond memories of his time as Town boss.Mellon left the club last week after two and a half years in charge at Greenhous Meadow.
Micky enjoyed great success at Shrewsbury Town, guiding them to promotion from League Two in his first season at the club, whilst also enjoying some stellar cup runs.
Micky confessed that he holds his time at Shrewsbury in high regard and will always have a place in his heart for the club.
“I had a fantastic time at Shrewsbury and loved it,” said Micky.
“Loved the people, loved the fans, especially block 19, who I want to give a special mention to because I think they are the heartbeat of the club, and they always gave us terrific support.
“It’s a great club, it’s a great town. I’ve got so many good memories there, met unbelievable people. I was involved in some tough times as well with the likes of Lloyd Burton, having to read at his funeral, it was really humbling that I was asked to do that. To be able to do that will stay with me forever.
“I loved every minute of it and it will always be a club that I will hold in very high regard and a Town that I will absolutely come back and visit again.”
When Micky Mellon joined the club, there were only four players on the books and whilst wins became hard to come by in recent months, Micky believes that he has left the club in a better place than it was when he joined.
“We had a brilliant time,” said Mellon.
“The wins got hard to come by and we’ve been over that a number of times. I think there is a lot of talent in the building there, it will be up to somebody else now to try and get that out of them, but it did become difficult to get those victories, for the reasons we kept saying.
“We never practised playing a game where we lost a goal to an individual error, but I know that’s football and that’s how it is and hopefully the individual errors will become less and less and with the quality in that group, they will do well.
“If I had said to anybody that I would have got the club to the stage that I left it, and the moments that we had in between that, they would probably have snatched my hand off.
“I definitely leave the club in a much better situation as a football club and I believe if that group of players can cut out the individual errors or don’t get punished as much for them, then there is a really talented group in there that hopefully will go on and win many games.”
Micky was heavily involved in the community side of things during his time as boss and wanted to thank the people of Shrewsbury for making him feel so welcome.
“When everything all settles down I hope that my time there will be looked back on fondly, because that’s certainly the way I look at it already,” Mellon said.
“I enjoyed it. It was very challenging and I’ve improved as a manager. I was able to get involved in the community and get to know the people of Shrewsbury fantastically well and was involved in a lot of things that will stay with me forever.
“It’s had a massive impact on me and my family’s life and we would like to thank the people of Shrewsbury for making us so welcome. But, we won’t be strangers. We will come back again, hopefully both in football and socially.
“You can’t spend so much time in a place like Shrewsbury and have so much involvement in what was going on there and not hold the place in high regard. It’s a fantastic place with great people and it has a smashing football club, which is run very well from the top.”
Shrewsbury Town have made big strides forward in recent years and with a new training ground on the way and the right staff in place, Micky is hopeful that Shrewsbury Town can continue to move forward in the future.
“It’s about what we all achieved at Shrewsbury and I hope that people look at that fondly and enjoyed the journey, but I believe that the journey must go on,” continued Micky.
“Behind the scenes now there is everything in place to enable that to happen with the organisation of the football club and now it’s about the team moving that journey forward, because good people are in place now in certain roles, like in the community and in youth development, that we never had.
“All the way through the football club they have a plan. There’s a new training ground that is just about to arrive. That will hopefully be a continuation of the conveyor belt of talent going through, with good facilities and a great environment, which will leave players with little excuse not to improve.
“I will always have a soft spot for Shrewsbury and always look for their results and always want then to do well. And it will certainly be a town that I will come and visit again, because I’ve made many friends there and I intend to keep in touch with them,” added Mellon.
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