Matt Williams: This is just the start for Town

The former Blackpool supremo joined Town back in May and immediately set out ambitious plans to re-shape the club on and off the field.

Alongside giving boss Micky Mellon the tools to build a promotion chasing team, Williams – along with chairman Roland Wycherley – has also begun implementing changes to the club's structure.

Those plans include doing extensive work within the community, producing more home-grown players and increasing attendances at Greenhous Meadow.

Williams said: "We didn't set Micky any targets when he came in because we knew it was a big rebuilding job.

"It was a real challenge in terms of recruiting the right players but it is also a big job to get the infrastructure of the club where we want it to be.

"The way the 17 permanent players have settled in has been fantastic and it's great to see us at the right end of the table.

"We want to get promoted and to be where we are at this stage of the season gives us a good chance of doing that.

"But it's the whole process that is moving in the right direction, the progress we have made recently, both on and off the field, has been very good."

Since Williams' arrival, Town's footballers have been on 260 community visits, spending time at schools, charities and organisations throughout Shropshire.

While, just this week, the club launched training sessions for people with Down's syndrome as well as a brand new Advanced Development Academy.

The academy, run in partnership with Shrewsbury College of Art and Technology, allows youngsters as young as six to receive training from fully qualified coaches.

Williams said: "I spoke about my role here as a project when I was first appointed and the term 'project' was questioned by a few supporters.

"But it is a project, because I want to support the chairman in improving every aspect of it.

"We are doing a lot more positive work in the community and I really am delighted about that, but there is still a long way to go.

"We have launched the new development academy because we want to be able to produce our own players, our own coaches, and we want to develop supporters of tomorrow.

"I hear people talking about Crewe and the players they have brought through. We have had the likes of Joe Hart, Dave Edwards and now Ryan Woods and Connor Goldson who are superb talents.

"We want people talking about our youth set-up here in Shrewsbury. That is why we brought in Ian Dawes and his staff who have done a fantastic job.

"We are working hard to see improvements in every area because Shrewsbury Town is more than just a football club. We have a huge role to play in the community."

Williams is currently working on plans to get more junior football teams to visit Town on match days.

"We really want to have greater links with junior football teams throughout Shropshire," he said.

"We want these young players to go on and be playing for the Shrewsbury first team, but also we certainly don't want to be seen as the big bad wolf who comes along and steals all the best players.

"We want to form relationships with these clubs and grow our supporter base.

"We want them to come in, see the dressing room, have a coaching session, get some autographs and form a guard of honour when the players run out.

"So many of our players want to do their coaching badges and we encourage them to go out and coach at both our academy and at junior football clubs who support the club.

"And, for the kids, it will be a day they never forget. We did it with a team against Morecambe, the youngsters loved it.

"So if there are any junior clubs out there who want to be part of Shrewsbury Town I urge them to contact Jamie Edwards in our community department.

"We want to get the message out that there is more to us than just football."