Friedel Sees Shrewsbury as a Special Project as New Owners Build Data-Driven Recruitment

During his playing career, Friedel spent the majority of his time in the Premier League with Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham, but the 55-year-old is now embracing his first sporting director role in England’s fourth tier.

“I no longer look at football through the lens of only taking a job in the Premier League or the Champions League,” he said. “One of my most enjoyable roles after playing was as head coach of the U.S. men’s under-19 national team, and most of those players were not even professionals.”

He continued: “I look at football opportunities as different projects. The upside, if you get it right, in English football is the buzz it can create. So I do not see this as an EFL League Two club; I see it as another incredible project with incredible people.”

Shrewsbury finished 10 points clear of relegation in League Two last season, appointing current manager and former player Gavin Cowan in January to help steer them away from the National League. Friedel said he intends to work closely with the head coach.

“I’m moving over here, and I’ll be there day to day,” he added. “This is not a situation where you’ll see me every now and then at the club; I’m not here for the short term.” He said the arrangement would be a collaboration, adding: “The way we see football being successful is that you need roles and structure, but you cannot have dictators. So Gavin and I will be around each other every day; I’ll be at training every day. It’s a group effort. If we’re successful, it will have nothing to do with just what I do or what Scott does or what Gavin does; it’s everybody on the field and off the field who has to pull their weight for us to be successful.”

One area the new owners intend to focus on is recruitment, with Friedel revealing that a department is already at work identifying potential new signings.

“I’m very data driven, but I would never sign a player just on data, as there are so many different elements to signing a player,” he said. “What data does is speed up the process, and we have our own customized platform. We will bring in other individuals to help with the recruitment process and collaborate with Gavin, extending a much wider net around the globe looking for players. We will reach out to many parts of the world that Shrewsbury Town had not previously targeted; we’re excited about bringing this recruitment department in. It’s already in place, and they’re here, and we’re already working.”

The current campaign is Shrewsbury’s second in League Two after a 10-season stay in League One ended in 2025, while they last played in the second tier in 1989. Friedel is not ruling out the club returning to that level at some point in the future.

“Everything is possible, but you have to dream,” he added. “Let’s take one thing at a time. We want to come in and take this step by step. We want to be promotion contenders, whether this season or next; that is our aim. If we’re fortunate enough to get up into League One, we’ll try to do it again. If we get up into the Championship, that’s another formidable task. We want to baby-step this a little. First stability, structure and make sure we’re providing the resources needed for the first-team staff, the players and the academy to be successful, and then see where we go.”

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