Adam El-Abd: Shrewsbury Town will be tougher
Defender Adam El-Abd has vowed Shrewsbury Town's days of being regarded as nice guys are over.
Town endured a club record 13 home League One defeats last season, the joint second highest in all four divisions as they stayed up by four points.
Manager Micky Mellon has already ordered the Greenhous Meadow pitch to be reduced to make it more difficult for opposing teams to get the upper hand.
Now no-nonsense centre-back El-Abd is looking for Town to be a much tougher proposition next term.
He said: "You come as an opposing player and you look at the stadium and you think it's a nice place to play – a nice pitch and nice stadium so you look forward to coming here.
"It's one of the better League One away journeys. Now I'm here we're going to make sure teams are hurting at the end of a game.
"We're going to dominate them with the ball and make sure we've got a bit of bite about us as well.
"People aren't going to come here and say 'nice Shrewsbury' – they're going to think 'that was a tough one'. That's our aim."
El-Abd is one of nine summer signings and, like many of them, fits Mellon's profile of being 'League One game ready.'
The former Brighton stopper is convinced Mellon has assembled a good blend.
The 31-year-old said: "There's a good mixture in the squad, we've got a bit of everything.
"The gaffer seems to have recruited really well and that was one of the reasons I signed because you look at the faces that have come in and think 'they mean business.'
"It was good to wear the shirt on Tuesday and good to be part of it. I'm looking forward to hopefully having a positive campaign and we'll see what we can do."
El-Abd has signed a two-year deal but feels, as though, he is a decade younger. He added: "I still feel like I've got many years to go. I'm 31 but I still feel like I'm 21 really.
"My body feels good, touch wood, and I'll be doing everything I can to make sure I have a good stay here at Shrewsbury."
