Football Season Guide

Shrewsbury Town

In


Abo Eisa (mid) (Colchester - back from loan), Brad Walker (mid) (Wrexham - loan ended), Max O'Leary (gk) (Bristol City - loan), Steve Morison (att) (Millwall - loan), Ryan Giles (mid) (Wolves - loan), Luke McCormick (mid) (Chelsea - loan), Ethan Ebanks-Landell (def) (free), Joe Murphy (gk) (Bury), Donald Love (def) (Sunderland), Aaron Pierre (def) (Northampton), Daniel Udoh (att) (Telford)

Out


Greg Docherty (r) (mid) (Rangers - loan ended), Stefan Payne (r) (att) (Bristol Rovers - loan ended), Jonathan Mitchell (r) (gk) (Derby - loan ended), Sam Smith (sp) (att) (Reading - loan ended), Tyrese Campbell (sp) (att) (Stoke - loan ended), James Bolton (r) (def) (Portsmouth), Mat Sadler (sp) (def) (Walsall), Ryan Haynes (sp) (def) (Newport), Steve Arnold (sp) (gk) (Northampton), Aaron Amadi-Holloway (sp) (att) (Brisbane), Alex Gilliead (sp) (mid) (Scunthorpe)

Shrewsbury were always going to have a difficult 2018/19 season, given that they lost manager Paul Hurst as well as the majority of their players. They struggled under John Askey, who was fired midway through the season, with Sam Ricketts doing superbly well to guide them to safety. Ricketts received a lot of praise for the work he did in charge and has now had the opportunity to make the squad his own. A lot of players have left the club, with the departures of Greg Docherty and James Bolton being major blows, as the duo were among the Salop's standout performers last time around. The list of players that join is also fairly lengthy. The Shrews have two new goalkeepers in their ranks, which is a reaction to the departures of Jonathan Mitchell and Steve Arnold. The experienced Steve Morison is likely to prove a nuisance up top at this level, while Ethan Ebanks-Landell has had spells with several League One clubs and is a proven player at this level. Aaron Pierre and Donald Love are also players with previous League One experience and will be expected to battle for regular starting places this time around. Overall, it seems that the Shrews' squad is currently on a level similar to their last season's one. They were displaying midtable form during the majority of the second half of the previous campaign and it now remains to be seen if that was merely a purple patch.

Target


Shrewsbury have not strengthened enough to be expected to significantly improve on their last season's showing. They will be pleased as long as they stay clear from danger.