Vaughan goal to seal up Town net

Shrewsbury Town are planning to strengthen their scouting network in a bid to ensure talented Shropshire players don’t slip through the net.

The likes of Joe Hart and Dave Edwards are the big success stories of Shrewsbury’s youth programme, with keeper Hart now having broken into the full England squad since his move to Manchester City.

But staff at the club are quick to admit that other promising players have instead been snapped up by the likes of Wolves and Crewe.

And Town’s head of youth Nigel Vaughan is keen to make sure the cream of the county crop don’t find their way to neighbouring Premiership or Championship clubs.

“We are looking into the Shropshire area to become better at scouting than we have done, and we need to get better relationships with clubs to set up a network to get players,” said Vaughan.

“We are fighting against a lot of Premiership and Championship clubs in the area and we need to make sure that we are getting the local lads first.

“I think we have the coaches and the development through the centre of excellence has improved so much over the past three years.

“We are developing much better and stronger players and the current bunch are the strongest and fittest lads I’ve ever had in my time here.”

Meanwhile, Vaughan has also unveiled the new in-take of first year scholars that will enter the club’s Walford-based programme next season.

Danny Taylor, Wayne Farmer, Will Richards, Jason Woods, Liam Flynn, Gareth Partridge, Tom Dicks, Josh Evans and David Howarth have all come through the under-16s team in the centre of excellence.

But Vaughan has also recruited from further afield, with Lincoln lad Tom Bachelor joining along with Ashley Watson from Reading and John Taylor from Liverpool.