A SHREWSBURY Town home game this month brought memories flooding back for an Oswestry businessman.

The match programme for Shrewsbury's recent clash with Lincoln City on Saturday, December 3 included an article headlined Classic Kits.

In this feature was the club's shirt for the 1993-94 season when Town won the Division Three title, and the sponsor was construction firm WSJ – with an image of the kit reproduced on the programme’s front cover.

This rolled back the years for Professor Peter Starbuck – the S in WSJ – who as chairman and chief executive officer built the Oswestry-based construction training and house-building business into one of Shropshire's best.

The 86-year-old retired from the construction industry 30 years ago and is now an acclaimed academic and management consultant, and he was delighted with the trip down memory lane. 

He recalls: “WSJ really started it all for me in many ways.

"We built it up into a successful company and it was great to be reminded of those days by the Town programme.

“It was very satisfying, too, that the WSJ sponsorship was associated with one of Shrewsbury’s most successful seasons, one of only two championship titles the club won since entering the Football League more than 70 years ago.”

Launched in the 1960s, WSJ undertook a wide range of construction projects, including schools, hospitals and 5,000 homes, for which it received national awards.

As its social contribution, the company trained managers and 1,000 apprentices who found employment as part of the Government’s Manpower Service Commission scheme.

Peter’s extensive knowledge of the industry led to him becoming an adviser to 10 Downing Street on Affordable Homes.

Still living in Oswestry, Dr Starbuck is an acknowledged world expert on Peter F Drucker (1909-2005), the Austrian-born American management consultant and author, whose writings contributed to the foundations of the modern business corporation.

He received international acclaim for his 52-page study – The Concept of Leadership – which has lessons for businesses amid the global recession caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Aimed at executives and managers it found a global readership, going down particularly well in China.

In summer 2002, he received an Honorary Degree from the University of Chester for his outstanding contribution to management research.