Shrewsbury Town new boy Stephen Hindmarch has vowed to repay the faith shown by boss Paul Simpson in handing him his first professional contract.The 18-year-old attacking midfielder, who wasn’t offered a deal by his home town club Carlisle on completing his YTS programme with the Cumbrians, penned a one-year deal with Town on Friday.
Hindmarch - who was attracting attention from Premiership clubs around two years ago - was coming through the youth ranks when Simpson was manager at Carlisle.
And the teenager is delighted that the Town chief has offered him the chance to make his mark in the professional game.
“The gaffer knows me from when I was coming through the Centre of Excellence at Carlisle and I’m delighted he has shown faith in me to bring me down here,” said Hindmarch.
“It’s up to me now to repay that faith.
“It’s my first professional contract so it’s an exciting time and I just want to have the chance to help the club achieve success.
“I think I have a decent chance at Shrewsbury and it’s up to me to get my head down and work hard.
“If I do that then hopefully I can impress the gaffer and the coaches here and I can push on.
“The gaffer invited me to take a look around here and it was brilliant.
“It made my mind up straight away. It’s the first time I have moved away (from Carlisle), which I suppose was a big decision, but I’ve made my mind up and I’m looking forward to it.”
Simpson believes Hindmarch, who scored the winner for Carlisle in a shock FA Youth Cup fourth round victory over Manchester United earlier this season, can prove a useful addition in more than one attacking role.
“Stephen can play in various positions - the right of midfield or the second striker,” added the Town boss.
“It’s up to him now to take his chance. I’m not the type of manager who thinks just because a player is only 18 that he won’t go in the team.
“If he deserves to be in there he will be - it’s as simple as that.”
4 Comments
welcome stephen, no pressure son!
If he gives us some pace and flair and a few goals too - he will have been a good signing. Best of luck kid !
Really no pressure. We need to lower our expectations for next season to a period of consolidation. The problem with last seasson was that expectations were way off the scale putting so much pressure on the players that it was always doomed to failure. If we end up mid table and have a reasonable cup run then I will be happy. Any more than that is a bonus.
the expectations should always be to win.settling for mid table dross does the fans no good and puts no pressure on players to perform.