Gavin Cowan, the manager of Shrewsbury Town, has urged the club’s supporters to maintain optimism as they head into the new season.
In recent years, fans have had little to celebrate, with the notable exception of narrowly avoiding back-to-back relegations last season.
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After Cowan took over in January, the team secured 27 points from 19 matches, successfully ensuring their place in the EFL.
The former Brackley manager expresses a newfound hope following what he describes as a “really positive pre-season”.
“I’m encouraging them to be optimistic. I don’t want to make any false promises, but there’s plenty of hope when you look at the quality of players we have,” he told BBC Radio Shropshire.
“Our squad is young, athletic, mobile, and eager to learn.”
Cowan emphasized that the club is making every effort to strengthen the team, even while being limited to acquiring loan players and free agents due to an EFL-imposed transfer fee ban over the summer.
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“I’m putting in a lot of effort to recruit new players, and the club is fully behind me. We just need to navigate through the necessary channels,” he added.
“We are all collaborating to assemble the best squad possible and I believe that adding two or possibly three more players, depending on our connections with higher-tier clubs, could place us in a really promising position.”
The Shrewsbury Town season kicks off with a Carabao Cup match against Salford on Saturday, followed by their League Two opener against Tranmere a week later.