Ollie Westbury on Shrewsbury Town patience in the transfer market

Shropshire Star

Ollie Westbury sat down with Jonny Drury to discuss the latest Shrewsbury Town transfer window news. Salop have signed a handful of players already this summer - but after a number exited at the end of last season there is still need for a host of new additions. Ollie looks at the concerns among Salop fans and why there needs to be patience throughout the window as Paul Hurst rebuilds.

Transcript

00:00Oli, there has been transfer movement at Shrewsbury, but it's sort of no secret that the numbers

00:12still remain relatively low in the Shrewsbury squad in terms of senior players. Mickey Moore

00:16came out, I think it was last week, and spoke about sort of understanding the fans' feeling

00:22and there was sort of a need for a little bit more patience. That's probably frustrating

00:28for Shrewsbury fans to hear, but it's probably just the reality of things at the moment,

00:33the situation that Salah are in, the amount of players that went out in the summer, losing

00:37those big hitters. It just needs to be, like it or not, there needs to be a little bit

00:43more patience.

00:44Yeah, I don't think it's an ideal situation. Yeah, I can understand the fans' frustration.

00:50In truth, I really can. They've released eight players. I think it's the sheer volume of

00:57players that they need to recruit that it's making the fans panic, because most clubs

01:04need a few players. Most clubs will be having a bit of a turnover, but Shrewsbury, it's

01:09a massive overhaul. Eight players released, three off of contracts not turned down, that's

01:13a whole team. That's 11 players gone. So Shrewsbury need bodies through the door to give themselves

01:21a competitive squad. And I think you're looking at it and you're thinking each day that goes

01:25by, each week that ticks by, and you're thinking, well, are they in the position that they want

01:31to be to be as competitive as possible for the upcoming season? And perhaps you would

01:36say that they've probably not quite got the numbers in at the moment that they would like.

01:41That is for sure. So I can understand the concerns. I really, really can. Along with

01:48the financial implications, you've got players leaving, Shea Dunkley going down a level.

01:57It just kind of says that we're struggling to compete even with sides in divisions, the

02:02division below us. So you can sort of see why the fans are panicking. But I suppose

02:10what I would say, and from my opinion, is that come the 10th of August is when it matters.

02:17Yes, I think we all want players through the door now. And in an ideal world, everybody

02:25would want the 20, 21, 22-man squad that I understand that Shrewsbury are looking to

02:30build this season to be compiled and Paul Hurst to be on the training ground with his

02:35assistant coaches and then to be working together and then to be pushing each other every day.

02:40But that's not always the case and things don't always work like that. There are other

02:44things at play, the financial restrictions that the club are working under. I kind of

02:52understand that Shrewsbury will have the lowest, if not one of the lowest budgets. That's always

02:59been the case. I think they've always hovered around 17th. But I understand that'll be even

03:04less this year. So I think it's going to be a challenging season for Shrewsbury. I think

03:10the one saving grace is Paul Hurst and I think that is what I'm hopeful that Paul Hurst

03:17will be able to do. Something similar to what he managed to do when he was at the club last

03:20time where they got good loan players in, they had good permanent signings, solid permanent

03:27signings and it was absolutely astonishing what they did last time. So we're probably

03:32not quite hoping for that again, but we'll take just half of that at the mid-table finish

03:36next year, I think.

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