Boss reflects on Shrewsbury Town’s ‘exhausting’ summer transfer window

Gavin Cowan reflected on a “tough” and “exhausting” summer transfer window for Shrewsbury Town.

The transfer window slammed shut on Tuesday night, shortly after Town’s defeat at Rochdale in League Two.

Salop have welcomed 11 new arrivals as part of Cowan’s rebuild, including five loan signings, although there remains an opportunity to bring in free agents.

Asked whether the club would now explore the free-agent market, Cowan replied: “I’m not the person you should be asking.”

Pressed on whether he would like the club to do so, he added: “I think every manager would.”

It was a quiet deadline day for Shrewsbury, with no further deals completed after their two loan captures on Monday.

Cowan admitted he would have loved to make some late additions and had been pursuing potential recruits, but none materialised.

Reflecting on the window, he said: “I’ve done all I can. I can only do what I can do.

“We’ve been in every room. We’ve put things in front of people, and then whether we get the decisions that we need, I don’t know. But I am at the point where I’ve literally exhausted every avenue.

“It’s been very exhausting. It’s been tough, because obviously there’ve been a lot of disappointments.

“We’re in a certain bracket, so there’s some that you’re just going to lose out on, financially or logistically, or whatever it may be.”

Town had pushed for a return for popular former loanee Iwan Morgan, who joined Grimsby Town for an undisclosed fee, while enquiries were also made about striker Dan Udoh.

However, the popular former Town forward was ultimately out of Shrewsbury’s reach.

Salop also saw two deals collapse in the latter stages of the summer window.

Cowan continued: “It’s been a strange one. I think with the World Cup, I’ve spoken to a lot of club officials, agents, players, it’s just been a very strange window.

“It’s been very long, very hard to fight, and fight, and fight. Listen, I believe in what we’ve got. They are good enough players, it’s just whether we have the right mentality.

“What we have got now is competition for places. And if that doesn’t spark them into life, I don’t know what will.”