Micky Mellon to restore pride to Shrewsbury Town

The 42-year-old Scot is eager to get straight to work after being confirmed as Town's new boss yesterday.

Mellon understands he is arriving with the club at a low ebb, following the recent relegation from League One.

But he claims to be excited by Town's potential and quickly stated his desire to put a smile back on the faces of supporters.

"You have to be excited or what is the point?" he said.

"I want to make the team better and make the players care – they need to care about what we are doing and play with pride, passion and fire.

"Make no mistake about it, we want to achieve next season and do well.

"It's really important to me, I want to give this club a team which makes the fans smile, makes them want to come and watch and one which they can be proud of."

Mellon's playing career took him from Bristol City to Albion and then Blackpool before he moved into management, overseeing Fleetwood Town's rise from non-league football into the Football League before being somewhat harshly sacked in 2012.

He was most recently assistant boss at Barnsley and believes the Town job is a wonderful chance to show what he can do.

"It's an opportunity, one I hoped I would get because I believe I am good at what I do," he said.

"To come to somewhere like this, I believe I can put something together and really make a big difference. I'm excited about that."

He added: "It's a terrific football club. There is a lot to look forward to. We know we have a good fanbase. The facilities are second to none.

"You would have to say the ambition of this club is to get out of this league and be successful as quickly as possible.

"I don't hide away from that. I want to be successful too."

Mellon will begin rebuilding the squad from a base of just seven players, one of whom will be midfielder Aaron Wildig, who announced he will be staying on Twitter last night.

The club are expecting to finalise their full released and retained list in the coming days.