Shrewsbury Town hold firm over James Collins fee

Shrewsbury Town's new-boys go under the microscope for the first time in tonight’s opening friendly at Evesham - as the prospect of a tribunal to decide a fee for former striker James Collins increased.

The nine summer arrivals are all set to play some part as Town begin their pre-season game programme with a trip to the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One South & West outfit (7.45pm).

But boss Graham Turner is keen not to over-stretch his players in their opening outing.

“I don’t want any of them playing more than 60 minutes so we should have sufficient changes and give everyone an opportunity to get a feel of it again,” said the Town boss.

“You want to get a game or two under your belts and see how the new lads are looking.

“We have started to work a little bit on team formation and, while Evesham are fairly low down the pecking order in football terms, it’s a game and it will be a good surface.”

Town’s trip will represent an historic night for Evesham, who will welcome their first Football League opponents to their new Spiers and Hartwell Jubilee Stadium.

And the hosts will be hoping to complete the 90 minutes after Tuesday’s friendly with Hereford was abandoned midway through the second half after a clash of heads between two Bulls trialists – Chris Carruthers and Greg Tindle – led to both being taken to hospital.

Meanwhile, hopes of agreeing a compensation fee with Swindon for Collins appear to be fading.

Shrewsbury are due a payment after offering last season’s leading scorer, who scored for his new club in a 6-1 victory over Weston Super-Mare last night, a two-year contract extension.

“We haven’t agreed a fee with Swindon so it looks likely to go to tribunal,” added Turner.

“We rated James very highly so we will be looking for as much as we can possibly get.”

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