Shrewsbury Town comment: Is age just a number?
From their early business in the window, it appears that Shrewsbury have tweaked their transfer strategy.
Have they learnt from their mistakes? Well, the arrival of Sam Clucas on Thursday, and Tom Anderson before that certainly suggests they are trying something different.
It appears Town have identified that they suffered from a lack of leaders in the squad last year, in a season which saw Shrews drop into League Two for the first time in almost 10 years.
That much was pretty evident on the pitch as they lost a staggering 29 third-tier matches and finished bottom of the league with 33 points from their 46 games.
So now they start again. With a League Two season to prepare for, they seem to have tweaked their approach in this transfer window albeit it is currently very early days.
Anderson and Clucas are incredibly experienced footballers - and as Micky Moore said when they announced the signing, they will give the team more of a ‘spine’ they will have more backbone.
Clucas in particular is an eye-catching addition. Not only is he vastly experienced - he made 66 Premier League appearances and has well over 200 Championship ones to his name - it is the level he has done it at.
He will no doubt be a really good option in the middle of the park.
The majority of the Shrewsbury fans seemed pleased with the addition when it was announced online - yet there were a few concerns about his age.
At 34, soon to be 35 in September, there is an element of risk to giving a player who is clearly in the twilight of his career a two-year deal.
You would imagine, that was the only way they were going to be able to land him.
With the financial restraints Shrews are operating under, not every signing they make is going to be someone who is proven, in their mid-twenties and has resale value.
The concern for those sceptics will be that during his spells at Oldham and at Lincoln last season he only made 15 appearances in the league. So Town will have to manage him.
With his technical ability, he will fit well into Michael Appleton’s style of play. The Town boss wants to play a more possession-based brand of football.
Salop have got some promising youngsters coming through. Isaac England made his senior debut at the very end of last season. He came on late in the 4-1 defeat at Northampton, and he also played on the final day of the season against Crawley. Jack Loughran, who has been around slightly longer than England, was also involved towards the back end of the campaign.
Shrews’ youngsters have had immense success in the last 12 months, culminating in winning the Professional Development Trophy at the Cardiff City Stadium back in early May.
The challenge for Town now is to get some of these young lads into the first XI on a regular basis. And Moore believes having senior players like Clucas and Anderson in the dressing room will give them role models to aspire to and set the standards high.
Town’s latest recruits could have as much value off the pitch as they do on it.
