Steve Cotterill condemns crowd abuse after Shrewsbury draw at Bristol Rovers

Shrewsbury manager Steve Cotterill condemned the Bristol Rovers fans who subjected him to a torrent of vile abuse following the 1-1 draw at the Memorial Ground.

The former Bristol City boss was heading down the touchline for his post-match interview duties when he was stopped in his tracks by home fans in the stands who targeted him with a string of four-letter words.

One fan also shouted “I wish you were dead” at Cotterill, who had a brush with death during a long battle with Covid-19 last season.

Cotterill was involved in a verbal stand-off with the small group of middle-aged men lingering in the stands before they were silenced by a fellow Rovers fan as children milled around the ground.

“I came back here as a former Bristol City manager who has been successful and I’ve still got a home in the city,” Cotterill said.

“That abuse is not acceptable but I have lots of good friends who are ardent Rovers fans.

“It’s a few people who decide they wanted to have something to say but I don’t know what you can do about it. You’ve got to take it.

“They are far enough away from you but there’s a lot of people who are brave when they are 20 or 30 feet away.

“The stewarding was pretty good and another guy told them to pipe down but unfortunately this happens in football. Thankfully, it’s an isolated incident.”

It marred an exciting finale that saw Shrewsbury striker Ryan Bowman play the role of super-sub to perfection to rescue a point for the visitors with a close-range 80th-minute strike.

He struck after fellow replacement Ryan Loft had Rovers ahead in the 68th minute – just seven minutes after entering the fray – after being superbly teed up by striker Aaron Collins.

Cotterill was disappointed his return to the West Country only