Sam Ricketts: Shrewsbury Town B team plans some way off
Shrewsbury Town’s long-term plans to install a Brentford-style B team are ‘a long way away’, according to boss Sam Ricketts.
In February, Ricketts revealed his ambition to recreate the successful formula that the Championship Bees launched in 2016.
With no reserve or under-23s side on their books, Town want to create a pathway at the club to enable young talent to join without having to be thrown straight into the first team.
Football is currently on hold across all levels due to the coronavirus pandemic and with no clarity on the remainder of the current season, when the summer break will take place, and possible start dates for next season, it is unlikely the B team plans will sit at the forefront of the club’s priorities.
Ricketts previously said that the plans had been talked about for some time but, when asked for an update on the proposed B team idea, the boss said it was ‘a good idea’ that is ‘a long way away’.
“No, there’s nothing else to add on that,” Ricketts said when asked for an update.
“It is and continues to be something potentially down the line that can prove beneficial but is a long way away.
“It’s not something, certainly given the current situation, pressing and beyond that will take a lot of work.
“It’s a good idea which is a long way away at the minute.”
Ricketts argued that, because Town are unable to compete on wages with League One’s big hitters, the club may have to look further afield and make moves six months earlier – with players then allowed to bed in a B team.
The boss spoke of contacts across the continent as an area that Shrewsbury can tap into to steal a march on rivals.
Former Wolves and Telford defender Ricketts, who is in his first Football League job in management after joining from Wrexham, is contracted at Salop until the summer of 2021 but has been keen to inprint his long-term vision on the club.
