Shrewsbury Town Former Players Association (FPA) was officially launched at An Evening with Graham Turner on Friday 18th August, bringing together past heroes of the football club in a bid to strengthen ties, celebrate history, and give back to the community that has supported them for decades!
The FPA will be a network of any player that’s been involved with Shrewsbury Town, including the first team, women’s team and academy.
The association aims to create a sense of belonging among the club's former players, allowing them to maintain connections, share stories, and collaborate on charitable initiatives that will positively impact the local community.
Natalie Wood, player care lead at Shrewsbury Town Academy, spearheaded the creation of Swansea City's Former Players Association in her former role in South Wales and will now be working alongside Milly Wheeler, the foundation's fundraising and partnerships manager, to put on several events for former players to engage with across the season.
Natalie said:
"The initial idea to launch the Former Players Association and Alumni under player care was to support and reconnect the academy players with the club after their transitions.
"It is important for former players to still feel a part of our Salopian family and have a continued aftercare platform whereby there are opportunities to have someone to talk to or have personalised well-being support.
"We thought it would be great to invite former players to Shrewsbury Town FC home games and encourage players to join our academy alumni events.
"We decided it would be great to launch the FPA not just for the academy but the whole club, including both men's and women's first teams and foundation scholars.
"It gives us an excellent platform to begin reconnecting players as when you leave a football club or retire, it can be a difficult time and as we all know football moves quickly!
"It is our job to ensure that players feel valued and praised for what they have given to the club and that they are not forgotten about.
"Our plan is to listen, support and enrich all former players of Shrewsbury Town who want to be part of our alumni future events.
"We aim for the association to be supported by fans, ultimately creating a committee that helps to support the events."
If you’re an ex-player and would like to get involved COMPLETE THIS FORM.
