Shrewsbury Town close in on new academy chief

The club have been working hard to fill the vacancy left by previous incumbent Bernard McNally, whose departure was announced in early April.

More than 25 people applied for the job, with applications coming from as far as New Zealand and India as well as Spain and Malta.

And Reece, the club's Academy manager, said: "We are closing in. We have got a short list that we are working through.

"We have got two people to see next week, and possibly one more, and there are no more than five people in the frame.

"The decision should be made by the end of the week. All interviews will be finished by Wednesday and then we will sit down as a technical board and a decision will be made by the board. It is never down to one person."

The club's academy, which currently has around 120 players on its books, has garnered plenty of attention in recent months after defender Dominic smith and goalkeepers Callum Burton and Harry Lewis were all handed professional deals earlier this year.

And there are high hopes that several of the club's forthcoming second year scholars could possibly follow in their footsteps in a year's time.

Josh Ginnelly, Niall Flint, Alex Fletcher and Kaiman Anderson have all been included on the first team bench in the last season.

First team manager Micky Mellon has also taken a keen interest in the search to replace McNally.

And he revealed last week that whoever is finally appointed to the role will also be expected to help out with other duties alongside that of the academy, including some scouting for the first team.