Shrewsbury Town's Shaun Whalley relishing coaching role

The Town favourite is keen to go into management and is studying for his Uefa B coaching badge, in doing so he is taking sessions for the academy.

Teenage strikers Charlie Caton – who has a professional deal – 18, and Tom Bloxham, 17, have both been handed league debuts by Steve Cotterill in recent weeks, and Whalley, 33, has been impressed with how the under-18s responded to his coaching.

Town’s No.7 said: “I’ve taken the under-18s training a few times, so it’s good to do that, I’ve actually been with Chaz and Tom a couple of times.

“I’ve been doing it recently, I’m enjoying it, I’m looking towards getting my Uefa B and then my A. I really enjoy it, to be fair, it’s something I definitely want to do in the future.”

Whalley, who played for Southport as a 17-year-old before turning professional at Chester in 2004, admits stepping into a coaching role takes a bit of getting used to.

“It’s totally different because you’ve never done it before, it’s like doing anything, that’s why I’m trying to gain as much experience now as I can,” he added.

“It is different at first but it’s certainly I’m enthusiastic about, I want to do it. But obviously I want to play for as long as I can, and I still feel like I have quite a while left in the game playing-wise.”

Shrewsbury have high hopes for 18-year-old professional Caton, formerly of Wrexham. First-year scholar Bloxham, a 6ft 5in striker, has another year in the youth set-up.

“The main thing from my point of view is they do what they want you to do and listen, that sort of stuff, their attitudes are good,” Whalley added. “I think that’s the main thing you want as a coach.

“They are a good group of lads, every time I’ve been down they’ve been good with me and the youth team manager (Max Rogers).”

Rogers recently took over from David Longwell, who is now first-team coach.