All eyes on Shrewsbury Town new boys as Salop kick off pre-season campaign

There has been a huge summer overhaul in Shropshire. Eight first-team players were released at the end of last season, while senior players and arguably Town’s best, Dan Udoh, Chey Dunkley and Marko Marosi, turned down the opportunity to stay at the Meadow.

Town’s summer recruitment has been heavily impacted by the financial trouble the club finds itself in – there were £3 million worth of losses for 2022/23, while their cash reserves in the bank had fallen £1.5 million to just £81,184.

Losses like that are not solved in months, especially with the way contracts work, so the summer reset was needed.

But since then, Town have found it difficult to get players through the door. And now, as they head to Brackley tomorrow, they will have just about enough players to field a starting XI.

Assistant coach Chris Doig was interviewed by the Shropshire Star last week, and he refused to use the lack of numbers as an excuse.

He admitted it was a challenge, but the reality is they must do their best with what they have.

The slow nature of the transfer window is largely down to the Euros and the fact Premier League and Championship clubs are using their players to fill squads for their own pre-season training. Brackley will be the first chance to see some of Hurst’s players, though.

Harrison Biggins has impressed in pre-season, he has done well in fitness tests. Toto Nsiala will get minutes, as will Toby Savin and George Lloyd.

Tommi O’Reilly joined on loan on Thursday but this game will likely come to soon for him to play a part in.

The result of this game will be irrelevant – Doig admitted that himself last week. It is simply about building up a base level of fitness and robustness to tackle a gruelling League One campaign.

Their opponents for their first outing are Brackley, a National League North side managed by former Salop player Gavin Cowan – he has also managed Town’s local rivals AFC Telford United.

They finished third in the division last season, and the clash will be their first game of pre-season, so you can expect there to be a few cobwebs that need to be dusted off in the first half.

After tomorrow, the calibre of opposition goes up. League One rivals Birmingham come to the Croud Meadow before Shrews’ players have the chance to test themselves against Premier League opposition in Leicester City.

They take on Derby, Telford and Oldham in the run-up to the first game of the League One campaign which will see them make the trip to Stevenage, and that is when it really matters.