Few football grounds merit the term "picturesque", but Gay Meadow, nestling between a tree-lined riverbank and a railway line, was one of them. The scene of many a giant-killing by Shrewsbury Town, it was perhaps even more famous for the coracle which one Fred Davies launched whenever a clearance sailed over the stand into the River Severn, each recovered ball earning him 50p.
After 97 flood-prone years, Shrewsbury baled out of their town-centre ground last spring, while 'The Coracle Man' hung up his waders 21 years ago and died in 1994. Yet they still know how to push the boat out at the Shropshire club, who will tonight strive to make another club renowned for their evocative riverside setting, Fulham, the first Premier League victims at their new home in a second-round Carling Cup tie.
The stadium - working title the New Meadow - is a 10,000-seat monument to the vision of chairman Roland Wycherley in the south of the medieval town. The romance may have gone, but so have the quagmire pitch and leaking roofs. Shrewsbury, moreover, boast a 100 per cent record there. Showing what their manager, Gary Peters, called "warrior style", they eliminated Championship high-fliers Colchester in the first round and beat Bradford City in their opening League Two fixture before nearly 6,500 spectators.
Fulham's visit is likely to test the capacity of 8,000 which has been set until the requisite safety certificates are obtained, but Peters is surprisingly low key about the occasion. For the 53-year-old, who had two spells at Craven Cottage as a player, the higher priority is to make sure of the promotion his team narrowly missed out on in May by losing in the play-off final against Bristol Rovers at Wembley.
"We look forward to games like this because they're not as important as the League," Peters said. "That's why I didn't feel any pressure against Colchester. It's a good draw in that it's a Premier League team, but it's not the biggest club in the world so it shouldn't mean it's the only thing people are talking about. We'll give everything we've got to beat Fulham, but it'll never be as important as when we play Accrington Stanley, Morecambe or Dagenham and Redbridge."
Peters was not with Shrewsbury when they last upset a top-flight team, but the event informs his perspective. In 2002-03, under Kevin Ratcliffe's management, they beat Everton in the FA Cup. Chelsea followed Wayne Rooney and company to Gay Meadow, winning 4-0, and as coracle nostalgia gripped the media, the Shrews did something Fred Davies never did: they took their eye off the ball. Failing to win any of the final 15 League games, they were relegated to the Conference.
Soon after they returned to the League at the first attempt, another FA Cup shock, with Shrewsbury on the receiving end at Histon in 2004, led to the departure of Ratcliffe's successor, Jimmy Quinn. In came Peters, who, as Preston manager, had once recruited a young David Beckham on loan. His second full season led them to the brink of promotion, and the new-stadium effect has fuelled optimism that the club could eventually regain the second-tier status they enjoyed for a decade until 1989.
During that era, Shrewsbury beat several clubs now three divisions above them, including Chelsea, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and a Fulham line-up that featured Peters. In his first stint by the Thames, the full-back (and occasional centre-forward under Malcolm Macdonald's stewardship) played alongside Richard Money, Tony Gale, Gordon Davies, Peter Marinello and John Beck, with whom his managerial career was initially intertwined.
Peters came back towards the end of his playing days, when Fulham laboured in the lower divisions after escaping merger most foul with Queens Park Rangers. Would there be any conflict of emotions when the Premier League's 19th-placed team come to the New Meadow? "None at all," Peters said. "My club is Shrewsbury now."