Shrewsbury Town boss happy to take 'hands-on' approach ahead of transfer deadline

The head coach wants to recruit at least two new players before next Monday’s deadline in a bid to bring fresh energy to his struggling League Two side.

Appleton has become more involved in transfer business following the exit of director of football Micky Moore earlier this month.

And the 49-year-old, who has said the club also need to get three or four players out of the door, is happy to do whatever it takes to get deals over the line. 

He said: "I've got direct links to agents, I've always had that in various roles so it means spending more hours on the phone and in the car, watching games and meeting players.

"I haven't done that for a while, but if that is what it takes to turn this thing around, then that is what I'll do.

"It is a balance, it is one of them, you need to make sure you have enough time to focus on the group and the eleven itself.

"But at the same time I do like that hands-on approach, it gets the best out of me.

"But you still need people who can take some of that away from you, you can't constantly be on the phone if you are trying to prepare for games."

Town, who host Chelsea’s under-21s in the EFL Trophy tonight, sit one place off the bottom of the table after taking just one point from their first five matches.

Appleton continued: “A couple of reinforcements wouldn’t go amiss and will give us that bit of an edge.

“Hopefully that will be the case before the window shuts.

“We are in a tough spot now and it is easy to point fingers and do a lot of blaming.

“If anyone wants to blame anyone, please keep it coming toward me. The last thing we need is players going on to the pitch nervous. We need them to be freed up.

“I know it is difficult but we need to get through this period together.

“I’ve heard those words so many times through my career but when you get moments like this, it is genuine.”