Brian Caldwell talks about yesterday's win over Charlton and fan engagement
Shrewsbury Town CEO Brian Caldwell has described yesterday’s Play-Off Semi-Final victory over Charlton Athletic as a ‘fantastic day’ for everyone connected with the club.
Carlton Morris scored the only goal of the game just before the hour mark to give Town a 2-0 aggregate victory after Jon Nolan had given Town the advantage at The Valley.
“It was a fantastic day yesterday”, said Caldwell.
“I thought the crowd were unbelievable, I’ve never heard it before like that, a fantastic atmosphere throughout and just genuinely a great day all round.
“For us to get to the Play-Off Final, what an achievement! I think everybody’s gone into their work or school this morning smiling, which is great.
“We’ve had a very successful season and it was great to have the sell-out we had yesterday, and to hear the difference it makes having a full house.
“It was great to see so many local people turn up and back the club, we just need to try and capitalise on that now and maybe sell more season tickets and push the club on again.”
It wasn’t just yesterday’s game that helped create a good atmosphere at the Meadow with Thursday night’s away leg also attracting a good audience to the stadium.
“We had over 250 in the Sovereign Suite on Thursday night for those that couldn’t make it down to Charlton and from some of the videos I’ve seen it was a successful night for all”, explained Brian.
“Obviously the result and the performance helped the 250 or so that were there enjoy a good night and I just wish we’d put a camera in there now to do a fan-cam.”
Brian has made fan engagement one of his key priorities since joining the club at the start of 2016 and he is pleased that that work is starting to pay off.
“We’ve got a really good relationship with the guys and women in the Supporters’ Parliament, which is really important to us as a football club”, Caldwell said.
“I’ve always said that I will always be open with you and I will always tell you the truth, even if it’s not necessarily what you want to hear, and I will try and explain things as much as I possibly can.
“There were a lot of criticisms before I joined the club, but hopefully we’ve stemmed that, we’ve created a positive atmosphere, we’ve got a good relationship between the club and the supporters, and everyone’s happy just now.”