The Scottish FA approved the dual interests on 6 October and all four buyers have now cleared the regulator. The sale has not completed; no date is set.

Update, 7 October 2026: The Scottish FA has approved the Spartans-led consortium holding interests in both clubs. Spartans FC, the Edinburgh club where Scott Davidson is lead shareholder, announced it in a statement on 6 October.

The statement says the approval covers two things:

  • the dual interests arising from the consortium’s acquisition of Shrewsbury Town
  • the appointment of Davidson, Will Dotson and Craig Graham as directors of both The Spartans FC and Shrewsbury Town FC

Spartans said this “completes the majority of the regulatory aspects of the acquisition”. It gave no completion date, and said further updates would follow “as soon as we are able to”.

That was the Scottish side of the deal. The English side had already finished quietly. The regulator determined on 24 September that Bradley Friedel is suitable to be an officer, SMF5: Director, of Shrewsbury Town. It published the file on 25 September. (IFR determination: Bradley Friedel)

So all four men the chairman named on 20 September now hold a regulator determination. Only Davidson’s is as an owner. Friedel’s seven-day review window ran from 25 September and has closed.

What has not happened yet, as of this afternoon:

  • The club has not announced completion. Shrewsbury Town has published nothing on the sale since 18 September, and nothing on the Scottish FA decision. Its news since then is match reports, tickets and a November fireworks night.
  • Companies House shows no change. The latest filing is still the accounts of 25 February. Roland Wycherley is still the registered shareholder.
  • The confirmation statement is due by 17 October. Its statement date was 3 October. It will be the first annual filing since the sale process went public.
  • The supporters’ petition showed 1,032 signatures today, against a goal of 1,500.

That is 205 days since the letter of intent the chairman dates to 16 March 2026.

Previously, 22 September: Two days after the chairman’s reply to the supporters, nothing on any public record of the takeover had moved. Brad Friedel had no determination, and the window to ask for a review of the Graham and Dotson determinations closed on Friday 25 September.

Before that, 21 September: the regulator cleared Craig Graham and William Dotson on 17 September, publishing both determinations on 18 September. Each was approved as an officer, the SMF5: Director Function, and neither as an owner. The chairman and board answered the supporters’ six questions on 20 September, the day the groups had asked for a reply.

Key dates in the Shrewsbury Town takeover, from the letter of intent in March 2026 to the confirmation statement due in October

The football regulator has cleared Scott Davidson to own Shrewsbury Town and to chair it. The decision was taken on 3 September and published on 11 September, and it is the document that matters in this takeover.

It sits on the Independent Football Regulator’s ODSE Determinations register, a public list of everyone the regulator has passed or failed at a club it oversees. Shrewsbury Town’s entry is the determination for Scott Davidson. It is short, and it says more than either club statement issued this week.

What the regulator actually approved

Davidson applied for two things at once, and the file lists both:

  • approval to become an owner of Shrewsbury Town Football Club Limited
  • approval to carry out the SMF1: Chair Function and the SMF5: Director Function

That second line is the news. The regulator has not simply waved through a buyer. It has approved the man who intends to take Roland Wycherley’s chair.

The determination was made under sections 28 and 29 of the Football Governance Act, using the factors in section 37. The regulator concluded that Davidson:

  • is financially sound
  • has the requisite honesty and integrity
  • has the requisite competence to carry out their proposed role as officer at the club
  • has sufficient financial resources to be a suitable owner of the club

It added that it “does not have grounds to suspect that the applicant has any source of wealth connected to serious criminal conduct”.

This test is new. The regulator’s own guidance page says its powers over sitting owners started in December 2025, and that assessments of new owners only began on 5 May 2026. Shrewsbury Town is among the earliest English clubs sold under it.

The dates, in order

The register’s determination date is 3 September. The club’s own account of that week starts a day later.

In a statement on 7 September, Shrewsbury Town said it took telephone calls from the EFL and the regulator on the Friday afternoon, and that the EFL’s formal written confirmation arrived on Monday 7 September. The chairman’s letter of 20 September dates those calls exactly: Friday 4 September. The regulator had already decided. The club named nobody at that point, saying full details would follow “when we are able to do so”.

The names came four days later. On 11 September the club confirmed the consortium is led by Davidson, a Miami businessman, and said the former United States international and Premier League goalkeeper Brad Friedel would become a director. The same day, the regulator published the determination.

All four cleared, one as owner

The club’s statement was careful, and so is the register. Friedel becomes a director “subject to IFR approval”. The Spartans board members Will Dotson and Craig Graham were also named that way on 11 September.

All three have since cleared. The regulator determined on 17 September that William Dotson and Craig Graham are each suitable to be an officer of Shrewsbury Town, and published both files on 18 September. The wording is identical in each: financially sound, the requisite honesty and integrity, the requisite competence.

The distinction in those files matters, and no club statement draws it:

  • Davidson was approved as an owner, and for the SMF1: Chair Function as well as SMF5: Director
  • Dotson and Graham were approved as officers only, for the SMF5: Director Function

So the ownership approval at Shrewsbury Town still rests on one man. The other two have been cleared to sit on his board.

The club confirmed the two clearances on 18 September, saying they had “successfully passed the owners’ and directors’ tests conducted by the relevant governing bodies” and that this “represents a further step in the proposed takeover process”. It named Graham as Craig Graham MBE, a former KPMG partner and the current chairman of The Spartans, and Dotson as a fellow Spartans director.

Friedel followed a week later. The regulator determined on 24 September that Bradley Friedel is suitable to be an officer, SMF5: Director, and published the file on 25 September. His file uses the same three findings. Like Dotson and Graham, he was approved as a director, not as an owner.

Spartans FC, the Edinburgh club where Davidson is majority shareholder, put the same point more plainly in its own announcement on 11 September. It said clearance for Dotson and Graham was “expected this week”. It also said something no Shrewsbury statement has: “The deal has yet to be finalised and is yet to receive SFA approval.” Davidson owns a Scottish club, so the Scottish FA has its own say. It gave it on 6 October: Spartans announced that the Scottish FA had approved the dual interests and the directorships across both clubs.

Spartans said the two clubs will have “an informal relationship” allowing them to share knowledge and experience, and that their community foundations would work together.

Every review window has now closed

Every determination carries an appeal route, and a short clock. Each new file starts that clock again.

Under section 82 of the Act, anyone the regulator considers directly affected can ask for a determination to be reviewed by a committee of its board that had no part in the original decision. Any request must be made within seven days of the publication date.

That gave three windows, and all of them have gone:

  • Davidson’s determination was published on 11 September, so his window closed on 18 September
  • Dotson’s and Graham’s were published on 18 September, so those closed on 25 September
  • Friedel’s was published on 25 September, so his closed on 2 October

After a review, section 84 allows a concerned person, or another person with sufficient interest, to appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The regulator has published no review request on any of the three files.

What the buyers are taking on

The club’s last full accounts were signed on 24 February 2026 and filed at Companies House the next day. They cover the year to 30 June 2025 and they explain why the club has been for sale.

Year to 30 June Turnover Loss for the year
2025 £7,214,063 £599,412
2024 £6,823,952 £1,556,007

Shrewsbury Town's loss for the financial year, 2022/23 to 2024/25

Wycherley’s chairman’s report in the same document puts the loss two years earlier at £3.12m. Losses have narrowed sharply. The rest of the balance sheet has not caught up:

  • cash at bank and in hand on 30 June 2025: £70,254, down from £95,786
  • creditors falling due within one year: £3,609,107
  • net current liabilities: £2,933,818
  • net assets: £10,662,482, almost all of it the ground and the land under it

The going concern note is the one a buyer reads twice. It says the directors, “the Chairman and Vice-Chairman”, are providing financial support to the company “and this will continue throughout 2026 and 2027 as required”. The auditors, Mortimer Childe Services Limited of Cleobury Mortimer, found no material uncertainty and signed the accounts on that basis.

The related party note puts numbers on that support. At 30 June 2025 the club owed £825,000 to R E Wycherley and £500,000 to D W G Montgomery. Both loans are interest free. During the year a further £2,100,000 that Wycherley was owed was converted into ordinary shares, which is why the called up share capital rose from £2,526,283 to £4,626,283.

The chairman’s report is blunt about the football. It records a 24th place finish in League One and relegation “after a tenth successive season” in the division, and says the club “continues to seek investment for the future”. Shrewsbury then finished 19th in League Two, on 49 points from 46 games, according to the club’s own final table.

Who owns the club today

Nothing has changed hands yet. Companies House still records Shrewsbury Town Football Club Limited, number 00315587, incorporated on 24 June 1936 and a plc until April 2013, with four people with significant control.

Wycherley is the one with the shares. The register records him holding 75% or more of the shares and 75% or more of the voting rights, notified in April 2016, and the accounts name him as the ultimate controlling party. He has been a director since 25 March 1993, which is 33 years.

The other three were all notified on 5 September 2024. None of them holds shares. The register records only “significant influence or control” for the directors Liam Dooley and Duncan Montgomery, and for a company, Blue and White UK Holdings. That company is registered in Chester and was incorporated on 30 May 2020. It spent its first months named Blue and Amber Holdings.

One more thing the register shows: the club has no outstanding charges. Six were registered over the years, against Gay Meadow and then the Oteley Road site, and all six are satisfied. The ground is not mortgaged.

The letter set a deadline, and the board met it

The ten groups wrote on Sunday 6 September. Their letter is a public document: it is linked from the petition that carries it, and it can be read in full. Two things in it have been overlooked.

The first is that it set its own deadline. The groups asked for “a clear and transparent response, by 20 September 2026”. The reply came on 20 September.

The second is that it set the form of the answer. They asked the chairman to respond publicly, “not with a behind-closed-doors meeting for an invited select few, but with a clear statement that all can watch or read”. The reply was published on the club’s own website, in full, where anyone can read it.

The letter also says why the groups wrote. It quotes the chairman telling supporters in May 2023: “Please do not be concerned about our club’s future, it is safe and secure.” Since then, it says, the club has cut its year-on-year losses but kept adding to its aggregate losses, been relegated to League Two and survived a relegation fight. “Our direction of travel appears to be remorselessly downwards.”

Six questions, and what came back

The question, in short What the board answered
Are you co-operating in full with the regulator? “Yes.” The process has “passed all the EFL’s and IFR’s tests” and “every piece of information they’ve asked for has been provided”
Is this the right buyer? “We believe so that’s why we’ve come this far.” But “no one knows for certain what a buyer will do once they’ve taken control of a club”
Who is the buyer? Scott Davidson, Will Dotson, Craig Graham and Brad Friedel. They “had expressed a wish to remain private until the acquisition had received formal approval”
What is the timescale? The letter of intent was exchanged on 16 March 2026. “I cannot promise you a date, but we’re pushing for completion as quickly as we possibly can”
If the deal fails, is the budget safe? “A competitive budget has always been provided, and we will continue to do so for this season and next season if required”
What can supporters do? “Keep doing what you have always done”, back the 11 summer signings, and “give the process the time and space it needs to work”

All six were answered, in order and in the letter’s own numbering. Two things in the supporters’ letter were not.

The ground was not addressed. The complaints that fill the letter’s second page never come up in the reply, which deals only with the six numbered questions. The groups wrote that the stadium “is clearly in need of work to bring it closer to the condition it was upon construction 19 years ago”, that:

  • the ironwork is rusting and paint is peeling
  • bird droppings “infest the concourses and are plastered on all too many seats”
  • “the average supporter is not getting a great matchday experience right now”

They set that against a boardroom they called “a shining beacon of corporate hospitality”.

On 20 September the two records did not yet line up on Friedel. The answer to question one says the process has passed all the regulator’s and the EFL’s tests. The regulator’s own register shows determinations for three of the four men named in the answer to question three. There is none for Friedel, and the club’s statement of 11 September said he would become a director “subject to IFR approval”. The register then was last updated on 18 September. Friedel’s determination followed on 24 September, so the gap has since closed.

Who signed it

The letter carries ten names at the foot:

  • STFC Official Supporters Club
  • Salopcast
  • South Stand Flags
  • Away Travel Club
  • Super Blues Committee
  • STFC Her Game Too Ambassador
  • Blue & Amber Fanzine
  • Proud Salopians
  • STFC Away Supporters FC
  • Salopchat Messageboard

Two days on, none of the ten has published a written response to the reply on a website of its own. The Official Supporters Club is the only one of them that posts news on its own site. On 21 September it said its chairman Chris Allen had joined BBC Radio Shropshire “to talk all things Shrewsbury Town Football Club’s reply to the Open Letter”. The station’s schedule dates that interview to the Adam Green programme broadcast on the morning of 21 September.

The petition that carries the letter, Letter to the Chairman of Shrewsbury Town, was started on 5 September by an account named Floreat Salopia. It showed 1,024 verified signatures on 22 September, up from 1,002 when we first reported it and 1,022 on 21 September. Its starter has posted no update since the reply arrived.

How you will know when it is done

Nobody needs to wait for a statement. Three public records will show the sale when it happens, and two of them carry deadlines.

  • Companies House, within 14 days. A company must tell Companies House within 14 days of a change to its directors or to its people with significant control, under the rules for running a limited company. A change of ownership at the club would show there as a PSC notification and as director appointments, and that is the fastest public signal there is.
  • The confirmation statement, due 17 October. The club’s next confirmation statement has a statement date of 3 October 2026 and is due by 17 October 2026. It is the annual filing that confirms the company’s registered details, including its share capital.
  • The regulator’s register. All four buyers now hold determinations on the ODSE register, and every review window has closed.
  • Scotland’s side of it is done. Spartans FC announced on 6 October that the Scottish FA had approved the dual interests.

What it means for you

  • The approvals are in, the sale is not. The regulator has cleared all four buyers and the Scottish FA has cleared the dual interests. Spartans calls that “the majority of the regulatory aspects”. Companies House still records Wycherley as the shareholder, and Shrewsbury Town has not announced completion.
  • The objection windows have all closed. The last one, for Friedel’s determination, ran to 2 October.
  • There is still no completion date, and the chairman will not give one. His answer to the question is that he cannot promise a date. Treat any date you see elsewhere as someone’s expectation rather than the club’s.
  • The club says the budget holds either way. The board’s answer on contingency funding is that a competitive budget “has always been provided, and we will continue to do so for this season and next season if required”.
  • Watch Companies House, not the rumours. With the approvals done, the next public signal is a filing: new directors or a new person with significant control at company 00315587.
  • The next hard date is 17 October. That is when the club’s confirmation statement is due at Companies House. Any change of director or shareholder has to be filed there within 14 days of it happening, so the filing history is the place a completed sale shows up first.
  • Season tickets, matchday parking and travel are unaffected by any of this. Our guide to parking in Shropshire and the weekly roadworks and travel page cover the practical side of getting to Oteley Road.

We will update this page as the sale progresses rather than start a new one.

Sources