Graham Turner and Shrewsbury Town

This morning the Shropshire Star has commented that Graham Turner has been strongly linked with a potential return to Shrewsbury – where he was revered as both player and manager during the late 1970s and early 1980s – in some role.

62 year old Turner is hoping that he will have sold his shares in Hereford United in the next week or so and then after a holiday will decide what he might like to do.

There's little doubt that any return to Shrewsbury will be welcomed by many of their supporters especially the older ones who remember him taking the club to eighth position in what is now the Championship during the 1983/84 season. It was the first time the club had been promoted to the second tier of English football.

Turner joined Shrewsbury as a player from Chester for a fee of £30,000 in 1973 and made 355 appearances for the club.

He was appointed player-manager in November 1978 and took them to the top of the Third Division in his first season.

Twice he took the club to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Eventually he was head-hunted by Aston Villa and joined them in the summer of 1984.

Turner is recognised as the most successful manager Shrewsbury have ever had.

Former manager Jake King feels Turner would be the ideal choice.

"For a start, Graham would be the fans’ favourite which is important," said King.

"He had great times with the club in the past by getting them to what is the Championship now and keeping them there.

"His record speaks for itself and he knows the lower Leagues inside out.

"He has done well at Hereford and been there a long time, and I would imagine — with the new ground — that the finances at Shrewsbury would be better than there."

Howver there is some doubt how good the finances are at Shrewsbury which may be why Turner is cautious.

"I think one or two clubs that are perhaps on the fringe of financial difficulties see me going in there and doing a bit of fire-fighting and pulling around the finances," said Turner.

"I'm not sure if I want to go through all that again."

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