‘Always looking to improve’ - Boss on Shrewsbury Town plans

Gavin Cowan says Shrewsbury Town are “desperate to kick on” and will strengthen their squad if the right opportunity arises.

The Town boss said the club is banking for January as a key point in the season but insists the club will act sooner if suitable reinforcements become available.

Cowan has been keen to recruit an experienced number nine and number 10, revealing Town have come close to securing both on several occasions. However, he stressed that any additions must improve the squad.

He said: “I am very invested in this group. I won’t sit in the meeting room and tell them where we can be and then say that we need others in. Football is football, and you always want to keep improving.

“That is part of their motivation to keep performing that at any moment a player could walk through the door who is going to want to take their position. They need that motivation and element of fear, everybody does as a player.

“We’re constantly looking at how we can be better. I’m obviously governed from above and what we can and can’t do.

“We are in this position at the moment where we’re almost trying to bank for January and trying to make sure that we’re in a really healthy position then.

“In the meantime, if something comes along that we deem suitable for the team and to improve them and help them to be better, then we will.

“It’s not just me that’s frustrated. No one’s consciously trying to hold the club back. We’re just desperate to kick on.

“I want to win football matches. That’s my focus. So I want to improve all of the time.

“I don’t want to settle and say: ‘Oh, great, the stats table says this and we’re better off than what we were last year’.

“I want to win football matches. Sometimes I have to accept that there’s other elements to it. But, yeah, it’s frustrating.”

Town have loaned three players to non-league clubs in recent weeks, with Tom Anderson, Isaac England and, most recently, Byron Pendleton all moving out to gain game time. And Cowan is not concerned about the impact on his options.

“We want reinforcements,” Cowan added. “We want some of the players I’ve been speaking about now for three, four months - an experienced nine and experienced 10.

“And we’ve been very, very close on many occasions. It’s a little bit out of my control, unfortunately, so we went down a different route.

“I am really happy with the group. But over the course of the season, our squad is definitely not as big as others.

“We’re trying to concentrate that budget. But it is what it is.

“In terms of those going out (on loan), I’m not overly worried because we’ve still got enough brilliant players in the building. But we’re able to call them back.”

The free-agent market remains an avenue for Town, with Cowan insisting he will only pursue players capable of strengthening his squad.

“It is essentially about what’s out there,” he added. “Of course, you have to be in the market financially. They have to be the right players.

“What I won’t do is I won’t add to the group if I don’t think that they can come in and compete with what we’ve got.”

He added: “We’re constantly looking. It’s a merry-go-round of activity. It never stops. But we play the cards we’re dealt.”