Shrewsbury Town Football Club can confirm that former England under-19s, Birmingham City Women and Cheltenham Town coach Marcus Bignot has been appointed to the position of assistant head coach.
The 48-year-old joins Salop from Cheltenham Town, where he has spent the last season working as a first-team coach.
Marcus, who made more than 600 appearances across a two-decade playing career, has extensive coaching experience in both the men’s and women’s game.
Starting his career playing career at Telford United, Marcus would go on to represent the likes of Crewe Alexandra, Bristol Rovers, Queens Park Rangers and Millwall before moving into coaching, taking management positions with Birmingham City Women, Solihull Moors, Grimsby Town and Chester.
The club is aware that in 2020 Marcus was charged on the balance of probabilities of using homophobic terms following a touchline row while he was assistant manager at Birmingham City Women.
Though this is a charge that he has vehemently denied, Marcus received a touchline ban and attended a mandatory education programme, which he completed.
Prior to Marcus’ arrival, the club felt it was important to take time to speak to both Proud Salopians and members of the Shrewsbury Town Women’s team to inform them of Marcus’ appointment, and did so last week. We are pleased to confirm very positive discussions were held.
Shrewsbury Town is a football club that values equality – and that will never change. We are also a club that believes in second chances, and both director of football Micky Moore and head coach Matt Taylor believe Marcus both deserves this opportunity and will help the club move forward on the pitch.
When asked about his new job, Marcus said:
"For me it's to support the head coach and the players but also challenging them in this environment, understanding how much support to give, how much to challenge them and just understanding that sometimes it is going to be a challenging environment.
"Matt (Taylor) is very much about the person first. I know it's cliche but it's true, we definitely are person first, footballer second.
"We'll give them everything and we expect it back because we're all going to need one another. That's how we're looking at it."
On why he came to Shrewsbury:
"I'm really keen on the infrastructure at the club. We've got a director of football who I've worked with previously - I'm a big believer in having a director of football at a club.
"Being able to work with an exciting young head coach and coming into a club with some very good senior players, there were a lot of positives really.
"It won't take long for us to be all singing off the same hymn sheet, that's been very evident from the first day back.
"We had a really positive meeting hosted by the gaffer yesterday morning. He explained what we as coaches are expecting from ourselves and also what we expect of the players.
"I'm really looking forward to it."
Head coach Matt Taylor said:
"I think when you look at Marcus' coaching journey, his experiences, his knowledge and understanding of the level is exceptional.
"I like his manner, I like his demeanor. First and foremost he's a really good person.
"I'd met him a couple of times before and everybody I spoke to with regards to Marcus spoke of him very highly and I think we're very lucky to have him.
"The dynamics with the staff will evolve over time, we all need to get to know each other. I think it's imperative that David (Longwell), Beast (Brian Jensen) and Marcus work closely alongside each other and myself.
"I think we're blessed to have good people but I'm very much looking forward to this season and progressing so I think it's a really important good appointment for the football club."
