Iwan Morgan has revealed how close he came to rejoining Shrewsbury Town this summer, confirming extensive talks took place before he signed for Grimsby Town. The forward, who spent the second half of last season on loan at the Meadow, said a permanent return was a genuine possibility.
"Yeah, close. There were a lot of conversations which happened," Morgan told reporters. He stated he would have been happy to return to work under manager Gavin Cowan, who had publicly expressed a desire to be reunited with the player during the transfer window. The pull of Grimsby Town's project, their recent near-promotion push, and the manager's vision swayed his decision.
Morgan's initial loan move last season was key for Shrewsbury. He arrived expecting to work under Michael Appleton, but the manager was sacked after just a few games. This left Morgan needing to prove his commitment to new boss Gavin Cowan. "It helped me massively," Morgan said of the challenging period, during which he scored three key goals that aided the club's successful fight to retain their Football League status. His all-action style made him a firm favourite with supporters.
Current context for Shrewsbury
While Morgan now plies his trade elsewhere, Shrewsbury's focus is on building consistency in the current campaign. The team sits 18th in League Two with six points from six matches, a record of two wins and four defeats. Their recent form has been mixed, with the last five results showing a pattern of win, loss, loss, win, loss. The most recent outing was a positive 2-0 home victory over Northampton, with goals from Kian McMahon-Brown and Kevin Berkoe.
Reflecting on his choice, Morgan admitted Grimsby were a team widely discussed as one to avoid playing against, a factor that intrigued him. He now aims to help them push for promotion to League One. For Shrewsbury, the search for attacking reinforcements continues as they look to climb the table from their current position six points behind the early leaders, Barnet. The club's full squad list is available on our squad page. Their next challenge is to string together positive results and improve a goal difference that currently stands at minus six.
