'We can't make rash decisions' - Gavin Cowan gives Shrewsbury Town players chance to impress ahead of summer

While he remains focused on mathematically securing Town’s safety in League Two, Cowan admitted members of his squad are already on his mind ahead of a potential summer rebuild.

"I'd be lying if I'd say I'm not looking at each and every individual," he told the Shropshire Star. 

"I don't think you can make (decisions) with ten games to go, I don't think it's fair on the players.

"You've got to remember this is their life, these are their livelihoods. What we can't do is make rash decisions. 

"We owe it to every single footballer to be able to give them every opportunity to convince us that this is the football club for them. 

"Some of them are well on the way to putting themselves into my brain in order for them to be here next year, and some of them just need more of an opportunity. 

"But they're all making a really good claim to want to be in and around the football club. The positive thing is they're all making the right noises. 

"I've got people at the club, like the head of recruitment and CEO. We have short meetings and they go off and do what they need to do, and I can really focus on what's happening on the grass."

He added: "Are we having internal discussions? No. But, to me as the manager, there'll be things that I'll be wanting to implement at some point. 

"I'd love to be able to say that we're in a room now planning. Yes, there's strategies there ready to go, of course, we're not going to be naive enough not to be setting things up."

Cowan has overseen an extraordinary revival at Salop, with six wins from their last seven games lifting them well clear of the League Two danger zone.

He was named League Two Manager of the Month for February for his immediate impact.

Against Cheltenham Town he has the chance to secure a club-record seven wins from his opening 10 matches in charge, which would better the returns of Jimmy Quinn and Graham Turner - though Cowan admits it is not something on his mind.

"I'm so focused on just three points," he said. "I just want to make sure we're safe. 

"At the end of the season, maybe we'll sit down and we'll have a pint and enjoy their moments. It would be good to rub shoulders with the fans when it's all done, to be able to sort of reminisce over what we hope is going to be a really positive time from my start of my tenure to the end of the season. 

"(They are) things I'm not thinking about at the moment. It's an absolute privilege to be mentioned in the same breath as a few people. I think we've got a long way to go and a lot of work to do yet to be constantly put in that bracket. 

"Just to be mentioned is great. But, for me, there's no sort of focus on that."