Shrewsbury Town debrief: Can Salop start planning for next season?
It looks like a case of when not if relegation will be confirmed for Shrewsbury Town.
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While survival is still possible, mathematically, Salop are in rotten form, and the defeat at Exeter was painful in more ways than one - their chances of staying in the third tier for an 11th consecutive season appear to have evaporated away.
The sad thing is that it now leaves Shrewsbury in limbo. They have 10 League One games left, and there is still so much football to be played.
Can they begin to plan for next season?
Well, in any other season, the answer would be yes. Yet, with the club in a period of exclusivity with new owners, everything depends on that being completed, and at what point a sale goes through.
Liam Dooley, the club’s chief executive, said just last week in a podcast that Town have the lowest budget in the third tier of English football.
But while they do not know who is going to be in charge of the club next season, it is going to be hard for them to make decisions on player contracts - they will not know what budget they will be working with.
Contingencies will have to be put in place, and Town will have to continue to run the business as if chairman Roland Wycherley is going to be in situ.
He has accepted he can no longer compete financially with some of the powerhouses in this division.
