Former player-boss Jimmy Quinn is excited for Shrewsbury Town future under Paul Hurst
Former Shrewsbury player-boss Jimmy Quinn is excited by Town’s prospects after hailing the work carried out by Paul Hurst as tremendous.
Hurst staged a recovery act in his debut season as Salop chief as he led an inspired turnaround of form that eventually secured Town’s League One status on the final day of the campaign.
With Hurst targetting a dozen incomings to revamp his squad, there promises to be numerous dealings ahead.
And Quinn, who spent just over a season with Town where he secured promotion from the club’s only ever season in the Conference in 2003/04, believes the form Hurst was able to extract from last season’s squad offers hope.
“I’ve been a couple of times to watch them play,” said the 57-year-old Ulsterman, who was 44 while still playing as Town boss.
“It is good times ahead for the club with everything going on.
“It always gives you hope when you manage to keep a team up. It was tremendous what he did last season. It looked a bit dodgy at one stage.
“It’s not a nice part of the game to be involved with a team that gets relegated.”
Quinn was a ruthless forward for several second and third tier clubs in the 1980s and 1990s, notably Swindon, West Ham, Reading and others.
He went on to briefly play for non-league Nantwich Town after departing Gay Meadow and then managed Cambridge United and Bournemouth as well as a spell in Norwegian football.
The former Northern Ireland international, who scored 12 times for his country, originally moved into the Football League via spells at Whitchurch Alport and Oswestry Town.
And after a career spanning the old Second and Third Divisions, Quinn remarked on the stature of clubs that Shrewsbury pit themselves against.
But he is confident that, with the correct additions, Town will not face a third successive season battling the drop.
“League One’s a tough division,” added Quinn. “There are a lot of big clubs in there and for Shrewsbury to compete at that level is a tremendous achievement.
“The manager will be doing work over the summer to try and improve the squad from what he had last year.
“Maybe with a bit more quality in certain areas we can have a better season and not down that wrong end of the table.”
