Hurst reluctant to set Shrewsbury targets

Salop kick off the 2017/18 campaign today when they host League One rivals Northampton at Montgomery Waters.

But while managers up and down the country are setting targets to finish in the top six or top half, Hurst believes it’s better too take things one game at a time.

“We’ve all got ambitions – hopes and dreams if you like,” the former Grimsby boss said.

“But I don’t think about it regularly. You get that in your mind and then you might re-assess. Some times you might get greedy.

“If you’re doing a bit better than you thought then maybe you look a little bit higher.

“If things are hard and they’re not going your way, it can be demotivating for players.

“As a manager you have to take a back seat and concentrate on each game as it comes.

“Personally, and some studies show it works, I’m not a big fan of putting August fixtures up and making a target for games.

“Suddenly after your first two games you can’t reach that target, that can be demoralising.

“I don’t do that personally for me or the squad. I don’t have it in mind, it’s very much one-by-one.

“It’s cliched but that’s the way I work.”

Despite his reluctance to set out his aims for the campaign, Hurst has held meeting with the Salop board to discuss realistic objectives.

“We’ve had a chat – you have that conversation,” he said.

“Whether you come to an absolute definite ‘let’s pick a place’ - we haven’t quite done that.

“”But we’ve all got ambitions. It’s getting it down to a realistic one, that’s where I work myself.

“I think I’ve got that clear in my mind but it’ll be forgotten about to a degree until the back end of the season.”