Former Lincoln City striker John Marquis has penned a two-year deal with Shrewsbury Town following his departure from Bristol Rovers.
The 32-year-old was once a prolific scorer at this level but found goals harder to come by in recent seasons. During his time at Doncaster, he averaged 0.43 goals per game, which is a ‘proven striker’ in many people’s estimations. However, since then he’s found it harder going – 0.29 per game at Pompey, 0.25 per game for us and 0.20 during his time with the Gas. That’s one in five, with just four in 35 League One outings last season.
He joined the Imps on a permanent deal that felt very much like a loan back in January 2022, and at first, he looked to be exactly what we needed. He scored three in three after joining, including one as we beat Plymouth at Home Park for the first time in 30 years.
He then netted two in 18 games, both as we beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-1. In fairness, it wasn’t a great City side; Michael Appleton was seemingly winding down (not that I saw it at the time) and even players like Morgan Whittaker struggled to make an impression. Still, with Hopper and Marquis up top, we did look lethargic, and while many raved about a two-up-top formation, I despaired at two seemingly able and committed footballers just doing different things.
Funnily enough, it was away at Salop where I firmly decided that keeping Marquis wouldn’t be in our best interests, and two months later, he was released.
There’s no doubt Marquis was committed – he made sure to applaud the fans at a time when the relationship between supporters and players could be a little fractious. This was, if you recall, the season where Chris Maguire had plenty to say to supporters, where the success of 2020/21 was forgotten in a fog of post-COVID expectations. It wasn’t an easy season for many reasons, and briefly, John Marquis gave us a little hope. He burned bright between January 22nd and February 5th, but ultimately, he was another in the long list of so-called prolific strikers who were not prolific at City. Depressingly, he still finished as our joint third-leading scorer with Morgan Whittaker.
I don’t want to besmirch a player who may well be a big success at Shrewsbury, and having seen Ryan Bowman stumble his way through Imps games with nothing but his elbows to set him apart from a Sunday League player, I feel they may have an upgrade. However, a two-year deal for a 32-year-old, who has been scoring fewer goals per game with each move since 2018, is a very big risk indeed.
Honestly, as someone who has friends among the Shrewsbury fan base and respect for a club of their (our) size surviving for so long in the third tier, I do worry for them this season. I note some hope among one or two of their supporters that they might be on for a decent season, but if I were a betting man right now, I’d have my money on a bottom-four finish this coming campaign.
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