Hard work and not hiding away is the answer for Shrewsbury, insists John Askey
John Askey insists he is hurting from Shrewsbury’s start to the season – but has told his players not to go hiding while times are tough.
The Town boss has been keen to keep spirits high at Montgomery Waters Meadow and Sundorne Castle, where he stressed that the atmosphere within the squad is healthy.
Askey says the only way for his side to escape from the winless rut they find themselves in is through putting in the hard yards.
And the boss, who is aiming for a first league win at the sixth time of asking against Bristol Rovers today, wants to see his players front up and tackle the issues going against them.
“It does get you down, it does affect you,” Askey admitted. “But when you come in on Monday morning you can’t let that feeling creep into training.
“You’ve got to come through the door and be ready to go again. You can only solve it by working hard. If you start to cower then it’s only going to get worse.
“It’s important that we work harder than we’ve worked before and make sure we change it.”
The boss stressed that spirit in the camp is equivalent to a side that have achieved a better set of results.
He continued: “I’ve not seen it (their heads dropping in training) and I’ve not seen it in games either.
“Hopefully that’ll continue, if it continues we’ll be getting the results. If heads start to drop then you’ve got problems.
“If you come into the training ground you can see from the players – you wouldn’t think they hadn’t won a game yet.”
Askey went nine games without a win when he took over as manager of Macclesfield in 2013.
He wants to banish the ‘horrible’ feeling he has been left with after watching the side he assembled this summer struggle.
“It’s a horrible feeling, not a feeling that I want and the sooner it goes away the better,” he said.
