Hard work and innovation on a shoestring budget are combining to make the once timid Shrews a League Two force again.
Under manager Gary Peters, Shrewsbury have been transformed from relegation material to one of the toughest sides to beat in the basement division.
But it has been a hard slog since Peters was called in to rescue a sinking ship two years ago next month.
"When I came here we were bottom of the league and had just been beaten by Histon in the FA Cup," Peters told BBC Sport.
"The place was dire - it was in ruins. The training ground was a mess and the players' fitness and discipline was terrible.
"The club had been waiting for 10 years to get planning permission for a new ground so had not been doing anything to this one and the whole place was in disarray. The club itself was in decay."
"In the first season we could have gone down - in the end we were 11 points clear"
"It had to be a long-term solution and the foundations were the first job," Peters said.
"There had to be a hell of a lot of foundation work done before we could start competing with teams in this division.
"In the first season we could have gone down. In the end we were 11 points clear, which was down to organisation and hard work."
Peters was no stranger to hauling his way up from the bottom, having taken his first managerial post at Preston when they were stuck in the bottom division.
After promotion success at Deepdale, a short spell followed with Exeter City in 2003 where he almost achieved the impossible and kept them out of the Conference.
After deciding not to take the job on a permanent basis, Peters switched to scouting with Everton and even now he reckons no-one clocks up more miles than he does when watching prospective signings.
That has paid off with a rush of new faces at Gay Meadow, with only a couple of survivors from the pre-Peters days.
"In the second year we improved, although in the first half of the season it was hard after starting the first game with nine debutants," he admitted.
"I knew in some games we would have to pack the defence and hope to get a draw or nick a goal and not concede.
"But we did better than expectations and, if we had beaten Lincoln in our second last game, we would have got into the play-offs instead of them - even though we were nowhere near ready for it."
This season, however, Peters believes his side are challengers by rights after raising the stakes in the summer.
For the first time Peters was able to sign more experienced players with a proven track record, as midfielders Ben Davies and Stuart Drummond and strikers Andy Cooke and Derek Asamoah arrived at Gay Meadow.
But the Shrews boss insists the incentive was not hard cash.
"People think because we have brought in people like Ben Davies we pay great wages, but that's not the case," he said.
"We have a tight budget but we are able to get players in on less wages than they are being offered elsewhere, as I am able to show them the site of the new ground and also the work we will do to make them better players.
"This season is the first time I feel we can compete with other teams"
The message being portrayed is one of a hi-tech approach to training and matches, with Peters using every tool at his disposal to get the most out of his team.
While the Shrews can not afford to run to the ProZone system used by many Premiership clubs to gauge players' performances, Peters devised his own computer programme which cost £900.
From it players are given DVDs of each match and asked to analyse and report on their own performances.
In addition, Peters has had a 42-inch plasma screen television mounted in the home dressing room to re-run set-plays at half-time.
The end result has been a tidy start to the season which has seen the Shrews lose just twice.
"This season is the first time I feel we can compete with other teams," Peters said.
"That's not to say we will be top of the league, but I don't feel another team will outplay us on a regular basis.
"And that's a better feeling than wondering if we can get enough points to stay afloat."