Gab Sutton weekly: Can enigmatic Ainsworth conjure great escape at Shrewsbury?

Had Shrewsbury not made the move to appoint Gareth Ainsworth as their new Head Coach, their slide to the EFL’s basement tier would have felt almost inevitable.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for returning manager Paul Hurst, who led the club to their best season in decades in his first spell in 2017-18, when they painfully lost the play-off final 3-1 to Rotherham.

Hurst subsequently left for Ipswich in controversial circumstances, but time can be a great healer and the fanbase were broadly happy to welcome him back to Shropshire, as he kept the Shrews up last season.

This season, though, the budgetary disparity proved too much even for Hurst to overcome, with the team taking eight point from their first 15 games — propping up the table.

Individual players have stood out for Salop this season, like Leo Castledine, Tommi O’Reilly and George Lloyd, and there have been some competitive performances, but with results elusive, it felt like a club that needed a lift.

They may have that lift in Gareth Ainsworth, who’s inspirational, motivational qualities will be crucial to any sort of great escape.

There are jobs closer to the midtable vicinity of League One that may have become vacant, so some have argued that Ainsworth has taken a risk in staking his reputation on a club in Shrewsbury who have a shelf life at this level — certainly under current ownership.

It may be, however, that the chance to lead the club that every outsider has written off, and try to keep them up against all the odds, carries an attraction to Ainsworth of it’s own kind.

The 51-year-old loves the high-stakes points of seasons, because they extract the most out of his ability to galvanize everybody.

And, right from his first interview at New Meadow, Ainsworth has demonstrated the charisma that saw him work wonders at Wycombe Wanderers, taking them from final day Football League survival in 2014 to reaching the Championship just six years later.

The boyhood Blackburn Rovers fan has already won hearts and minds at Shrewsbury in his early media appearances, and the fanbase, like the players, are sure to buy in straight away, with a big attendance forecasted for Saturday’s hosting of Birmingham — and not just because of the sizeable away following.

It should be a vibrant atmosphere, for the first time this season, and perhaps there’s an outside chance that Shrewsbury can use that bounce to pull off a shock result.

If Salop could get so much as a point against the League One Galacticos, or even lose narrowly with a creditable performance, it could provide a real springboard for them to turn their season around.

Perhaps the bigger challenge will be finding teams they can catch currently outside the relegation zone.

Finishing above Crawley, Burton and Cambridge is more than achievable, but look any further up and it becomes daunting.

Leyton Orient are definitely better than their position suggests, while the likes of Wigan, Blackpool and Rotherham weren’t expecting to be in the bottom eight by November when the season kicked off, and might feel they have the pedigree to climb the table.

Northampton are showing few signs of post-Leonard vulnerability as they continue to hold their own at this level under Jon Brady, while Stevenage are out of form right now but have demonstrated great solidity thus far — and face bottom half opposition in eight of their next 11.

So, yes, Gareth Ainsworth may well have the charisma to inspire Shrewsbury to beat the drop — and his appointment significantly increases their chances of doing so.

But whether the Shrews will improve, and whether they can find the fourth team to finish above, are different questions.