Shrewsbury Town stay put to work on deals
Chief executive Brian Caldwell is remaining behind to work on deals with his fellow Shrewsbury Town top brass in Portugal for the Football League Conference.
Caldwell is believed to have stayed at his Greenhous Meadow desk to work on transfer business.
Chairman Roland Wycherley and director James Hughes join their counterparts from the Championship, League One and League Two for the two-day conference.
Town have made good progress with Micky Mellon's summer transfer wishlist so far, with six of his nine 'first picks' already signed.
Olly Lancashire, Gary Deegan, Louis Dodds, Antoni Sarcevic, Ryan McGivern and AJ Leitch-Smith have arrived at the Greenhous Meadow on two-year contracts.
It's understood Mellon wants another three additions to his squad by the end of the transfer window. Sources insist Lee Novak is another player who the club have held talks with.
That's despite Caldwell claiming he hasn't spoken to the representative of the player himself or the striker, who has been released by Birmingham City after a season-long loan at Chesterfield.
Novak has also had interest from Portsmouth, but has reservations about dropping into League Two.
Mellon also wants to bring back Fulham right-back Jack Grimmer, who has already had two successful loan spells with Town and has a year left on his contract.
In addition, Town are still to announce agreements with five out of the six players offered new deals at the end of the season.
Goalkeepers Mark Halstead and Callum Burton, captain Nathaniel Knight-Percival, left-back Junior Brown – who is working his way back from injury – and James Wesolowski were all offered contract extensions by Mellon.
But as yet, first-choice goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler is the only player offered new terms who has signed, having penned another two-year deal.
Meanwhile, top of the agenda in Portugal today were discussions aimed at reaching a decision on the proposed Whole Game Solution document to take forward for further discussion with the Premier League.
Among the ideas as part of the proposal is revamping the professional structure of the game to five divisions of 20 clubs. If agreement is reached, the proposals on the Whole Game Solution could start in 2018.
