Shrewsbury Town announce pre-season Portugal trip

Paul Hurst’s men will head for some warm weather training where they will also play a friendly against an opponent yet to be confirmed.

The Town boss will take his players on the bonding trip soon after they return to training on June 23.

He said: “From my point of view, it’s about having a group and getting them to bond.

“We are going away to Portugal. We will be back in training for a week and then we go away. That’s something I don’t think has happened recently at the club.

“I know there will be some cynics saying ‘why do you have to go to Portugal to do that?’ but we’ll also have a game out there against decent opposition at the end of the week’s training.

“The important things are the fitness work and the first early signs of organisation in terms of the team.

“We have got to get the group as close-knit as possible to help us try to get the success we all want.

“They will be living in each other’s pockets for a week and hopefully that will force them to talk to each other and get to know a little bit about each other, if they’re not too tired from the training!

“Team spirit is massive and you don’t get anywhere by having a group that’s splintered.

“They don’t have to have everything in common and be each other’s best friends, but there has to be an element of respect with each other.

“We’ll try to get them to the point where, when they walk out on a Saturday, if somebody is picking on a team-mate then the rest of the lads are behind him.”

Town have already arranged home pre-season fixtures against Aston Villa, Wolves, Cardiff City and Burton Albion.

Meanwhile, they confirmed over the weekend that the new sponsor on the front of their home shirt will be The Energy Check, after the club agreed a two-year deal with the energy consultancy.

They replace Greenhous, who have ended their shirt and stadium sponsorship but still continue to work with the club on other projects.