Four candidates to be the new Shrewsbury Town captain

Salop’s first two signings of the summer show they felt they were missing that experience and personality in the XI at stages.

They have addressed that already with the arrivals of Tom Anderson and Sam Clucas - both highly experienced players - but who could take the armband next year? 

The 2024-25 season began with Carl Winchester being named as skipper. He made 12 starts but living away from his native Northern Ireland and his young daughter became too much for the former Sunderland man, and in January a decision was made by all parties to go their separate ways. 

Winchester returned to his homeland where he signed for Derry. 

That left Town in a precarious league position and without a captain and John Marquis was given the responsibility for the remainder of the season. 

But who could do it this time around? The Shropshire Star has taken a look at four candidates and weighed up the pros and cons for each. 

Tom Anderson

The former Doncaster man feels like the most obvious choice for the role. He is a former skipper having done it at his previous club, and a big dominating centre-back could be just what Shrewsbury need to lead them on and off the pitch. 

The 31-year-old is vastly experienced in League Two, and he was part of the Doncaster team that got promoted last year. 

Alex Gilliead

Perhaps not the most obvious choice, but at the back end of last season Gilliead led the way with a string of impressive performances. 

There are two types of leaders, one that leads vocally and ones that lead by example. 

Gilliead would certainly fit into the second category and while he is quite mild-mannered and very relaxed he was arguably one of the only players to reach the required standard last time out in what was a disastrous campaign. 

John Marquis

The former Portsmouth striker is vastly experienced and has more of a vocal presence on the pitch than Gilliead. At times, he also led by example with his performances last year managing to score 11 league goals in a poor side. 

There was the odd moment of madness like at Peterborough away when he got sent off in the first minute for an elbow.

Gareth Ainsworth loved him, and maybe with some more senior players around him, there might be less pressure on him. 

Sam Clucas

The former Stoke man has played a phenomenal amount of games over his career and he will have seen and heard everything before. The challenge for him and Town to manage if they were to make him skipper is whether he will play every week. He will be 35 not long into the season, and they will not want to keep passing the armband around if he does not start three games in a week.