4 managers Shrewsbury Town must consider following Paul Hurst exit ft. ex-Man City coach | OneFootball

Salop are on the hunt for a new boss after Hurst's second stint came to an end

Shrewsbury Town are looking for a new manager after the decision to part company with Paul Hurst.

Hurst, who was in his second stint as Salop boss after an initial successful stint between 2016 and 2018 - in which he was headhunted by Ipswich Town - has struggled to get to grips with the current League One campaign.

The 50-year-old returned to The Croud Meadow in January of this year, but having kept Town above the drop zone at the end of last season, the Shropshire outfit had amassed just eight points from their first 14 league matches of 2024-25.

The final straw came this past weekend as Shrewsbury were eliminated from the FA Cup in the first round by League Two club Salford City, leading to the confirmation that Hurst and assistant Chris Doig had been relieved of their duties.

What next though for Town? FLW takes a look at FOUR managers and coaches that the hierarchy may want to look towards in terms of Hurst's replacement...

Brian Barry-Murphy

With Shrewsbury's statement confirming that they are looking for a head coach and not a manager, you have to assume that they will be going down the route of looking for a more inexperienced figure, rather than an experienced, battle-hardened gaffer.

And whilst it may be a tough job for someone to take for their first ever first-team role, one man who is accustomed to taking charge of a team who needed to defy the odds is ex-Rochdale boss Brian Barry-Murphy.

Yes, the Irishman has a relegation to League Two on his CV, but Barry-Murphy was always fighting a losing battle at Spotland, but he played an attractive style of football and looked to use youth prospects whenever he could.

Since his time at the now-National League side, the 46-year-old has been under-21's manager of Manchester City, a role he held for three years until the summer of 2024, and he appears ready now to step back into senior football.

Could Shrewsbury hand Barry-Murphy the challenge he needs?

Noel Hunt

Once a competent striker at Championship and briefly Premier League level, Noel Hunt is yet to land his first job as a first-team head coach, but it could be looming thanks to the job he's doing in charge of the Reading under-21 side.

The Royals are a troubled club under Dai Yongge's ownership, but what hasn't stopped is their prolific production line of top young talents, with Hunt's side plying their trade among the best in the country in the Premier League 2 competition, beating Middlesbrough and Tottenham Hotspur already in 2024-25.

Hunt had five matches in charge of the Royals at the end of the 2022-23 season in the Championship, but that's all he's done at senior level, and whilst the Shrewsbury job right now is a significant challenge, it could be a good starting point for Hunt to cut his teeth.

Craig Harrison

Shrewsbury are currently letting Welsh Premier League outfit The New Saints - based in nearby Oswestry - use The Crowd Meadow for their UEFA Europa Conference League matches, but could they use that to their advantage and take their manager?

Craig Harrison's managerial career has almost exclusively been consigned to Welsh football, aside from a nine-month stint with Hartlepool United between 2017 and 2018, but his work to get TNS into Europe and winning matches of football at that level cannot be underestimated.

The 46-year-old, who possesses a 76.47 per cent win record at his current club, currently has European football to contend with, which may make TNS a more attractive job right now, but the chance to go back into English football and take on clubs such as Birmingham and Bolton Wanderers could be a big pull for Harrison if he is approached.

Leam Richardson

Handed a chance to try and keep Rotherham United in the Championship last season, Leam Richardson couldn't do much with an under-strength Millers side, and he lost his job close to end of the 2023-24 campaign as a result.

Now on the sidelines and waiting for another opportunity, it's perhaps the right time for the 44-year-old to drop back into League One, where he has had success with Wigan Athletic, to try and repair his reputation.

Shrewsbury will be a tough job for any manager, but Richardson took Wigan to safety in 2020-21 before leading them to promotion into the Championship the very next season, so he is perhaps a man who is built better than most to cope with such a challenge.