July is always an exciting time in British football. A new season gives everyone a chance to forget about the past – whether they won the league, claimed promotion, suffered relegation, or were Everton – and look ahead to the future.
I for one am completely over last season’s last-minute Play-Off Semi Final defeat to Oxford. Every now and then, I wake up from a nightmare in a pool of sweat after imagining Gavin Whyte running into our penalty area. I’ve also occasionally wandered the streets of Shrewsbury carrying a club and looking for a Northern Irishman to attack out of revenge. Other than that, I’ve entirely forgotten about it!
With my first year as Shrewsbury Town manager now in the history books, I now have the freedom to assemble my own team. Established Shrews favourites (such as Messrs Colkett and Angol in the title image above) are being joined by a bunch of new signings, who could turn these play-off contenders into promotion material.
But before we welcome those players who have arrived, we must bid a final farewell to those who have moved on…
TRANSFERS OUT
Three of our loanees from the previous season were the first to leave us before the new campaign. Joel Coleman (Huddersfield), Greg Docherty (Rangers) and Josh Emmanuel (Ipswich) all returned to their parent clubs. As for the other two, I’ve more on them a bit later.
Danny Coyne and Mat Sadler both retired from playing and would devote their time to coaching. Coyne remained in the goalkeeper coaching role he had held at Shrewsbury since 2013, while former captain Sadler stayed on as an Under-18s coach.
We pulled down the shutters on former vice-skipper Lenell John-Lewis, and ‘The Shop’ subsequently opened up a new outlet in Cheltenham. Right-winger Shaun Whalley‘s four-year stay in Shropshire came to an end after contract talks broke down. Abobaker Eisa was also on his way out, having failed to show enough consistency on the left wing.
The last of our senior players to be released was midfielder George Hughes, who needed a strong season on loan at National League Chester and simply didn’t deliver. Meanwhile, a bunch of youth-teamers were told they wouldn’t receive professional contracts.
We made nominal sums from selling a couple of pointless signings the club made before I became manager. Goalkeeper Steve Arnold moved on to Frank Lampard’s Derby™, presumably because the Premier League newcomers needed someone to make the tea. Centre-back Kieran Kennedy made the shorter (and more sensible) move to Oswestry-based Welsh Premier League champions TNS.
Attacking midfielder Sam Jones – who flopped at Cheltenham last season – simply would not accept a permanent move from Shrewsbury. He would instead see out the final year of his contract on loan at another League Two club in Carlisle.
Six youngsters were loaned to the National League after getting some action in pre-season. Playmaker Ryan Barnett – who signed a new long-term contract with us in the summer – and defender Zak Jules would remain team-mates at Hartlepool. Expect Jeff Stelling to give them a few namechecks on Soccer Saturday throughout the season.
Our third-choice goalkeeper Cameron Gregory was off to York, who’d just been promoted from the National League North. Macclesfield had come back down from League Two and made a move for our Cypriot centre-half Christos Shelis.
John McAtee‘s fine form for National League South side Torquay earned him a move to a club at the opposite end of the country in the division above. ‘Mr Antivirus’ would now try to wreak havoc on fifth-tier defences in a Gateshead jersey. The last promising youngster to be farmed out was right-back Ryan Sears, whom I reluctantly allowed to join Chesterfield following a lack of interest from League Two sides.
We agreed a £100,000 fee with Portsmouth to sell Fejiri Okenabirhie, but he rejected thier contract offer. I was happy to keep Fejiri around as a backup option, though I’ll admit the extra money would’ve been nice. No matter, because…
Barely a year after joining Ipswich, ex-Shrews defender Aristote Nsiala was on the move again, signing for Swansea for £1.7million. Thanks to a sell-on clause, we got a small slice of that money, which would certainly help to keep our bank balance in seven figures for a while yet.
TRANSFERS IN
I brought in 10 new players before the new season – four on loans, and six on free transfers. Though I had a transfer budget nudging on £500,000, there weren’t many potential cash deals that made sense to me, so I gave my wage budget a small boost instead. That in particular would help to get those last two deals over the line.
Anyway, the first man in was former Dunfermline target man Robbie Muirhead, whom we first met when he signed a pre-contract agreement with us in March. I’m already starting to think I might have made a mistake with Muirhead. His pre-season form was mediocre to say the least, and my coaches barely rate him as a League Two player. Well… you live and learn.
I am much happier with the first of my four loan signings. Our new number 1 is Freddie Woodman, who’s joined us for the season from Newcastle. Woodman excelled in the England team that won the Under-20s World Cup in 2017, saving a penalty against Venezuela in the Final, but his career has yet to take off.
The 22-year-old has great reflexes, is a strong communicator and has good positional awareness. His distribution leaves a little to be desired, but my coaches rate his overall game very highly. With Freddie’s contract at Newcastle due to expire next summer, I won’t rule out turning this loan deal into something more permanent if all goes well.
Our backup goalkeeper – who will play in cup matches or whenever Woodman is unavailable or out of form – is Jack Bonham. The 25-year-old Irishman joins us on a free from Brentford, having spent last season on loan at Bristol Rovers. He’s a strong shotstopper, and at 6ft 4in, he is three inches taller than Freddie.
Tosin Adarabioyo was once tipped for a bright future at hometown club Manchester City. The tall and strong centre-half only played six Championship games on loan at West Brom last season, though, and he has now dropped down a level to play more regularly. With his jumping reach, marking ability and strength, Tosin should hold his own against most League One strikers.
(NOTE: Despite what the screenshots’ statistics suggests, Woodman and Adarabioyo did play in some of our pre-season friendlies. That’s just a weird bug which only seems to affect those two players.)
Brendan Galloway has returned to Shrewsbury for a second season on loan from Everton. Despite making quite a few mistakes, including passing the ball into his own net in the first leg of the Play-Off Semi Final against Oxford, Galloway’s defensive abilities at this level can’t be questioned. He will again be our first-choice left-back – ahead of Ryan Haynes – and will fill in at centre-half whenever necessary.
Completing our quartet of loanee former England youth internationals is West Brom prospect Kane Wilson. The pacey 19-year-old right-back – who can also act as a makeshift winger – gets another taste of League One football, having featured for Walsall last season.
I’ve already hinted at this, but now I can confirm that the Shrewsbury Fans’ Player of the Year for 2018/2019 is back at New Meadow – for good! Chelsea decided that Charlie Colkett wasn’t worth loaning out constantly until his 25th birthday, after which he would’ve been sold to a Championship club. The enigmatic playmaker was released, which allowed me to sign him up to a two-year contract.
Charlie’s flair and creativity helped him to produce 15 assists last season, and I expect him to reach similar numbers again. If he does, he could remain a Salop favourite for quite some time.
Shrews fans already have a fondness for Sullay Kaikai, who was so good that former manager Micky Mellon loaned him twice – in 2015, and again in 2016. Upon the expiration of the 23-year-old’s contract at Crystal Palace, I brought him back to New Meadow for at least the next two seasons.
While Kaikai’s pre-season form was cause for disappointment, that was largely because I tested the versatile attacker out in a variety of positions. He can play naturally at right-wing or up front, but with his pace and his tendency to cut inside, I reckon he’ll be most useful to us on the left flank in the long run.
In the latter stages of pre-season, I brought in two more players on free transfers. The first of them – in a case of art imitating life – saw former Wales and Wolves midfielder David Edwards return to his hometown club. Edwards had started his career as an apprentice at what was then Gay Meadow, staying for three full seasons before moving on to bigger and better things.
Now aged 33, and having been let go by Reading, Dave is in the autumn of his career. While his technical abilities have dwindled, he retains an incredible work ethic and could still be useful to us as a box-to-box midfielder. He will also be our vice-captain for the forthcoming season, serving as understudy to our new full-time skipper Omar Beckles.
Lastly, we come to Danny Redmond – a 28-year-old Liverpudlian who previously played for Hamilton and latterly TNS in the Scottish and Welsh top flights. Redmond is a reasonably talented left-winger with excellent crossing ability, though he can also feature as a midfield playmaker. As short-term backup options go, he’s perhaps not a bad choice.
BACKROOM STAFF
There was also a minor summer overhaul in the backroom, with six men joining our staff. I had been unsatisfied with the standard of our fitness coaching, so I released Marc Lindsey and brought in… just some fella who worked at Arsenal under Arsène Wenger for 20 years.
Fitness: 19. Level of Discipline: 18. Quite frankly, I’m astounded that Tony Colbert hasn’t found work with another big club since the Gunners let him go. Still, their loss is a huge gain for the Shrews’ players, who will surely become fitter and sharper than ever thanks to the fitness coaching expertise of Colbert and my assistant Craig Brewster.
Unfortunately, we had to part with defensive coach Dean Austin. Celtic hired him to work for them as a scout, which – as far as I’m aware – meant identifying any half-decent players at the 10 other Scottish Premiership teams who weren’t Rangers. The Bhoys gave us some compensation for Austin, so it wasn’t all bad.
To tell you the truth, looking for a defensive coach as good as Austin was like trying to find a Fulham centre-back who knew anything about tactics. The best I could come up with from the application process was Mark Patterson, who’d previously spent over a decade at Gillingham in various coaching roles. Patterson is a determined disciplinarian who will hopefully whip our stoppers into shape.
We also needed a new physio, as Jordan Beech’s Physiotherapy rating of 12 was not really going to cut it. Former Crystal Palace and Norwich physio Stuart Wardle was a significant upgrade, scoring 15 on that front. Stuart has wisely decided not to go by his middle name, otherwise we’d be calling him Chris Wardle and endlessly ribbing him about that duet with Glenn Hoddle.
Oh yes, and we appointed Dan Ashby (latterly of Mansfield) as our new chief data analyst, replacing Adam Henshall. I’m sure you were all awaiting that announcement with bated breath.
And lastly, for the record, here’s what Sadler looks like now as a budding coach. He will start his new career working with our Under-18s, and he’s been joined in that set-up by former Wolves goalkeeper Matt Murray.
PRE-SEASON REVIEW
After all the stresses that came last pre-season, this was much more encouraging. We went unbeaten in seven matches, with our only draws coming against higher-tier opposition.
We began our preparations at a training camp in Birmingham, during which we took on a couple of local non-league clubs. Stourbridge were only just beaten in a very unconvincing performance, and it took us a while to overcome Solihull Moors. I ditched an ill-fated experiment with an asymmetric 4-3-3 formation midway through the first half of that match, and only then did we start to play like a proper football team.
League Two Northampton were then swatted aside 4-1, though we lost holding midfielder Ollie Norburn to a calf injury which put him out for around three weeks. That was followed by an admirable home draw against Championship side Ipswich. Captain Beckles put us ahead with five minutes to go, but the Tractor Boys responded with an 89th-minute winner from young midfielder Andre Dozzell.
The Salop faithful then saw an easy 3-0 win over Cambridge – another team from the division below. 18-year-old Lifumpa Mwandwe got his third goal of a promising pre-season after just three minutes, with Haynes scoring direct from a free-kick soon afterwards. A scrappy second-half goal from Jules secured the spoils and ensured we would be in high spirits for the visit of top-flight Everton.
It wasn’t quite the 2003 FA Cup all over again, but we did put the Toffees in another sticky situation. Our goal was counter-attacking at its finest, the move ending with Lee Angol finding Arthur Gnahoua in space before the 26-year-old stroked a shot past Jordan Pickford. We then had to defend our lead with all our might, with Woodman making some fantastic saves before finally being beaten from distance by Ademola Lookman. Still, a 1-1 draw was nothing to be sniffed at.
Then, to round things off, we won 3-1 away to National League North side Chester. The Deva Stadium was situated on the England-Wales border, so it seemed apt that three Welsh players found the net for us. Chester’s goal came from ex-Everton youth midfielder George Green, whom I’ve had a soft spot for since he helped my Dag & Red team win the Conference on FM13.
SEASON EXPECTATIONS
Despite having reached the play-offs twice in a row, the media don’t make much of Shrewsbury’s promotion hopes this time around. We are generally expected to finish around 9th, which was two places higher than we were predicted to come last season. Now, if we can improve our actual league position by a couple of places on last term, then I would be very happy…
The board are thinking along the same lines as the press, and have given me exactly the same objectives as I had when I first set foot in New Meadow. They expect another top-half finish, which should at least give me a little more breathing room if we drop off slightly from last term.
Last summer, we benefitted from a favourable early-season schedule, which allowed us to hit the ground running. We don’t have that privilege this time, as our opening fixtures are against Rotherham (away) and Hull (home) – two teams who’ve just been relegated from the Championship. We will also play Milton Keynes and Mansfield in August, with both teams set to be full of confidence following their promotions from League Two.
The Rotherham match gives us a chance to avenge our 2018 Play-Off Final defeat to the Millers. If we can’t manage that, though, then we will have another chance at the New York Stadium a week-and-a-half later, in Round 1 of the EFL Cup. The board again expect us to progress to Round 2 in that competition, and to Round 3 in the FA Cup, which would mean bettering our performances from last term.
As far as the ‘pointless’ EFL Trophy goes, the aim is Round 2 again. We are expected to progress from North Group H, which also includes Everton Under-23s, Accrington, and EFL newcomers Salford. The Ammies are first up at Moor Lane in September before we play host to our other two opponents.
Now this is a Football Manager first for me. I don’t think I’ve ever had any of my strikers start the season as the bookies’ favourite to win their division’s Golden Boot! They are clearly confident that Lee will surpass last season’s tally of 24 Angoals and become League One’s top marksman!
If Angol can make as strong a start to this season as he had to the last campaign, then it’s certainly possible. If he continues to replicate his late-season form, though, then he will struggle to retain his starting place, with Okenabirhie and Mwandwe waiting in the wings. It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is a make-or-break season for the soon-to-be 25-year-old Londoner, whose current contract expires next summer.
Whatever happens, my Lee Angol has already made more of an impact at Shrewsbury than his real-life counterpart. The actual Angol only scored four times in 25 appearances for the Shrews before being loaned out to League Two Lincoln last month. Meanwhile, Gnahoua was packed off to Carlisle on a free transfer. And you wonder why the real-life Shrews are battling relegation…
I hope this post has got you excited for the 2019/2020 season. I’ll be back later this week with an updated squad report, along with our first few fixtures of the campaign. Can Salop flourish this time?
Fuller FM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.