Shrewsbury Town chief executive Brian Caldwell has seemingly taken a dig at Will Grigg for what he feels was the striker going against his word by not joining the club at the end of the January transfer window.
Having fallen down the pecking order at Sunderland, Grigg had been a loan target for Shrewsbury last month, but eventually joined the club's League One rivals MK Dons for the second time in his career, in the final hours before the market closed.
However, it seems Caldwell believes that things had been agreed for Grigg to make the move to Shrewsbury last month, and the fact it didn't happen appears to have left something of a bitter taste in the mouth.
Speaking about the club's pursuit of Grigg, Caldwell told Shrewsbury's official website: "I'll tell you the full story, we did agree everything with Sunderland and we did agree everything with Will.
"Obviously from Sunderland's point of view they were looking to get someone else in, with Ross Stewart, which we were kind of aware of.
"Having been giving his word that he would be coming to Shrewsbury, and having been given the word from Sunderland that he wouldn't be going anywhere else.
"Unfortunately there was then a hold-up and (the transfer) then appearing in media circle last Friday alerted MK Dons and MK Dons and (boss) Russell Martin got in his head Friday to Sunderland, even though we had an agreement ready and waiting to be signed with Sunderland and agreement with Will ready to come all of last week."
But while Caldwell is philosophical about the way things player out, it seems he is still far from impressed with the actions of Grigg and Sunderland, as
he added:
"In football sometimes these things can happen, I like to think if I give my word to somebody that I wouldn't let them down, maybe I'm just too honest for that."
Since joining Sunderland from Wigan for a
reported £4million back in the 2019 January window, Grigg has scored just eight goals in 61 appearances in all competitions for the Black Cats.
Shrewsbury are currently 17th in the League One table, four points clear of the relegation zone, while sitting one place and four points behind MK Dons, albeit with two games in hand.
The Verdict
You can understand the frustration coming out of Shrewsbury with regards to this.
The club did quite clearly need a striker this month, and if they are believe they have got one in Grigg, then they might not feel the need to go out and look for alternative options.
That admittedly could be somewhat naïve if the deal has not been completely signed off on, but it did nevertheless leave them short with a decision only coming very late in the window, meaning they have perhaps been somewhat hard done by here.
Even so, they did still get a striker in in the shape of Curtis Main, and if Grigg struggles to improve on his recent Sunderland form, they will not have missed out on much there either.
