In the summer of 1958 Rowley left Leicester, who were playing in the First Division, to become the player-manager of Shrewsbury Town of the newly created Fourth Division. In his first season at the Gay Meadow Rowley led Shrewsbury to promotion with a haul of 38 goals in 43 games, winning the Fourth Division golden boot.[12] He followed that up in the Third Division as he continued scoring prolifically, netting 32, 28, 23 and 24 times over the next four seasons, before falling away in his last couple of seasons with the club as he began to put on weight and became less mobile, but his influence on the pitch was still to be seen, even employing himself as a makeshift defender on occasion, before finally retiring in 1965.[13][14]