Steve Cotterill’s three-year stay at Shrewsbury Town is expected to end this week.
The 58-year-old former Stoke City manager took over from Sam Ricketts in late 2020 and kept Shrewsbury in League One, finishing 12th in the season just finished – their highest position since coming third and missing out in the play-offs in 2018.
He was clearly emotional following the final game, a 1-0 defeat at Lincoln in May, and his departure by mutual consent is now ready to be confirmed, reports the Shropshire Star. Negotiations between the manager and club are believed to be ongoing.
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“It’s gut-wrenching really,” he said after his final game in charge. “There’s been so much hard work that has been put in and we wanted to finish in that top 10. Had we gone and won the game today, which we deserved to win, it would have at least put us up to 11th. I suppose 12th has been real progression, it just doesn’t feel like it at the moment.
“I feel sad at the moment. I’m really really proud of them, quite emotional. There’s just been so much, so much adversity we’ve had to fight through this season and we’ve done it. “
He added regarding his relationship with supporters: “I don’t think it’s strong mutual respect, I think it’s love. That’s something a solicitor would write, I think it’s quite simple really.
“I said when I came into the club that I wanted to get a connection between the team and the supporters and I think we’ve done that.”
The bookies have put Cotterill – who has also been in charge of Cheltenham Town, Burnley, Notts County, Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Birmingham, and been number two to Howard Wilkinson at Sunderland – among the candidates to be new manager at Swansea.
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