Paul Simpson is confident Shrewsbury Town will have the pulling power to attract players from the Championship as he prepares for his summer re-building programme.

Simpson spoke of his desire to “wheel and deal” during the close season at a well-attended fans forum at Oteley Road last night which drew in more than 300 fans.

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With Town only guaranteeing their Football League safety at the weekend, club officials are still putting the finishing touches to next season’s budget.

But Simpson is confident he can lure players currently plying their trade in the second tier of English football to Town.

“It’s fair to say we will do really, really well to get a Premiership player to drop down to League Two,” he said.

“That’s just the nature of it because at Premier League level, wages are absolutely unbelievable.

“At Championship level the wages are absolutely ridiculous and that was a massive eye-opener for me when I went from Carlisle to Preston.

“There is a massive difference but they accept they are going to have to drop a League – drop to League One or League Two.

“From what I’m being told – and managers are always telling you what their highest earner is but they are probably lying so they look like they are doing a fantastic job with their team – I actually think we can compete with most League One clubs with the wages we can pay.

“I would like to think we would have a chance of getting players who might be coming out of the Championship.”

Simpson is anxious to oversee change, even though just three of his players are out of contract at the end of the campaign.

“It’s a case case of spending the summer doing a bit of wheeling and dealing to try and create space.

“The chairman is aware there is a need to strengthen the squad.

“He wants to get success next year and the reason I came here was that ambition.

“This was a club I thought had a chance. I haven’t seen anything at the moment to tell me I have made the wrong decision.

“I really do think the team needs a spine throughout, something to build around.

“I have people in mind and I need to smuggle them down to Shrewsbury and the training ground without anyone seeing them, which in today’s world is impossible.

“But that’s what I want to do so we can hit the ground running on July 3 when we are back at pre-season training.”

By James Garrison