Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Simpson is prepared to be patient in his attempts to build a promotion-challenging squad at Oteley Road this summer.

Simpson admitted Town’s 18th place finish - confirmed by Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Rochdale - was not good enough for last season’s play-off finalists.

With the threat of relegation successfully avoided in his two months in charge, Simpson is desperate to add reinforcements to his squad.

But he admits he may have to bide his time before getting his targets in.

“It’s a tricky one,” said Simpson, when asked the likely time frame for the announcements of signings.

“I’m not being disrespectful to League Two but you don’t get players from League One and the Championship jumping at the chance to come down another division - and that is the level of player we would like to bring in.

“We may have to be patient. If you jump in early and spend all your money, the better ones may come up later in the summer.

“I will not put any timescale on it. The season starts on August 9 and I want to make sure we have a proper squad of players in by August 9.

“If I have to wait until the week before to get them in and work with them as we go along, that’s what we will do.

“When I came in, I had to make sure we did not go down. We have achieved that - but that’s not even classed as a consolation as far as I’m concerned because my job starts next season.

“Hopefully we can bring the players in to improve the squad and make us a better footballiing team and a better team for the supporters.”

Despite his desire to re-shape the squad, Simpson stopped short of confirming several Town players had donned the Shrewsbury shirt for a final time.

“I couldn’t say that because they are under contract for next season,” he said.

“Every footballer, whatever level you work at, has a price. Whether it is a free or a fee we don’t really know at the moment.”