Gay Meadow - End of Gay Meadow

End of Gay Meadow

To fund the move, the Gay Meadow site was sold to property developers, with the final season at Gay Meadow being the 2006/07 season.

Gay Meadow's final FA Cup tie was a goalless draw against Hereford United on 11 November 2006, in the first round of the cup (Shrewsbury lost the replay match at Edgar Street).

The final League game to be played at Gay Meadow was against Grimsby Town on 5 May 2007. In warm sunshine, Shrewsbury played out a hard-fought 2-2 draw, with Grimsby equalising in the final minute. To commemorate the day, a parade of former Shrewsbury Town greats was organised, with commemorative T-shirts being handed out to fans free of charge (with donations for local charities instead). Defender Kelvin Langmead took the honour of being the final Shrewsbury Town goalscorer at the ground. The last ever pro win at the ground went to the Towns bitter and bigger rivals Wrexham, they won 1-0, the game was the second to last game at the Meadow but it was to be the last pro win.

The final senior competitive match held at Gay Meadow was against Milton Keynes Dons on 14 May 2007, the first leg of the League 2 Playoffs. The game finished 0-0.

Before demolition, fans were given the opportunity to play on the pitch, in specially arranged friendly matches, and an auction was staged at the ground on 17 June 2007, where over 200 items from the old ground were auctioned. In addition, 500 unsold seats were purchased by League of Wales side Caernarfon Town, to be used in the construction of a new stand at their ground, The Oval.

The final football match ever to be staged at Gay Meadow was the club's annual friendly fixture between Shrewsbury's 'Away Supporters' team and the Shrewsbury Town backroom staff on Friday 22 June. In a closely fought match, the backroom staff won 1-0, police liaison officer Alan Roberts, known affectionately as "Laptop" due to him being a "Small PC" (Police Constable) taking the honour of being the final ever goalscorer at Gay Meadow.

In September 2007 demolition of the stadium began, and by October 2007 the ground was reduced to rubble. The site has been earmarked for residential building, with 150 apartments scheduled to be built on the site. Initially, it was believed building work would commence in early 2008. However, no development work has taken place on the site as of yet, which remains empty.

With the ground almost completely demolished, a charity zip-wire event was held on 14 October 2007. Over 100 townspeople 'flew' from the St.Mary's area of the town centre, over the River Severn to land on the Gay Meadow pitch, emulating Robert Cadman's heroic attempt in 1740. In addition, sections of the Gay Meadow turf was sold for a small fee for Severn Hospice, the organising charity. This was the final public event to ever take place at Gay Meadow before the re-development of the site.