West Ham will face a real test against Shrewsbury Town warns Tony Henry

The former Town midfielder, who spent the 1991-92 season at Gay Meadow, works closely with West Ham owner David Sullivan and manager David Moyes on transfer deals for the London club, writes Stuart Dunn.

He spends plenty of time watching games and running the rule over potential West Ham targets, a role he enjoys, after previously serving both Everton and Sunderland as chief scout.

As a West Ham employee, Henry, who started his playing career with Manchester City before spells at Bolton, Oldham, Stoke and Shrewsbury, has no wish to see an FA Cup upset at the Meadow this weekend.

But he has seen enough of Town, his local club, to know the Hammers will need to be at their best.

“It’s a great tie for Shrewsbury,” said Henry. “I’ve seen them a couple of times and I’ve been very impressed.

"They’re having an absolutely brilliant season. It would have been tough anyway whether Shrewsbury were at the top or bottom because ties like these always are.

“When I played for Man City we lost 1-0 to Halifax at The Shay in the FA Cup many years ago. At the time we were fifth in what is now the Premier League and they were bottom of division four, so It was horrendous.

"There will be shocks every year without a doubt, so hopefully we can get a result, but it’s going to be a very hard game for us.”

Henry has spoken with Moyes, a former Shrewsbury captain, about this weekend’s tie, with the Scot's assistant Stuart Pearce watching Town win 2-1 at Southend last Saturday.

“He just said it was so ironic that this tie should come out,” Henry told the Chronicle. “Obviously, David used to play here, he lived here and he certainly lost here with Everton in the FA Cup.

“He also had a very tough game against Shrewsbury in the League Cup with Sunderland last season.

“Shrewsbury are flying and they play good football. They try to play the right way and they press you.

“He asked me if I’d seen them play and I told him they’re a good side with some good players. Paul Hurst’s got them all playing the right way and they all do what he wants them to.

“Shrewsbury lost a couple of games in November but then got straight back and won two or three, the sign of a good team.

“I think in the past Shrewsbury might have got up there, lost two or three and then another couple and dropped down the league, but with this lot the mentality is different again.

“I think they think they’ve got a really good chance of going up and it would be fantastic if they did.”

Henry has fond memories of his one season playing for Shrewsbury - he scored seven goals in 40 league games for the club - after being signed by John Bond following a spell playing in Japan for Mazda.

“It was an enjoyable 12 months,” he recalled. "It was pretty common knowledge I didn’t really get on with John Bond.

"To be honest, I couldn’t believe he brought me in. I had just come back from playing in Japan when he asked me to play a pre-season friendly against Wolves.

“We won the game 2-1, I scored, and after the game he wanted to sign me.

"I had left Man City because of him. He left me out of the team for the 1981 FA Cup final against Tottenham and we didn’t really see eye to eye.

“I wanted to keep playing and in the end I’m glad Shrewsbury came in because as a family we’ve been here ever since.

“It was an enjoyable season at the old Gay Meadow and I played with some good lads like Dean Spink, Steve Perks, Kevin Summerfield and Tommy Lynch.

“I was going to travel down from Manchester but it was about an hour and a half every day, so we decided to initially get a rented house in Nesscliffe.

“We really enjoyed living in the Shrewsbury area, the kids were settled and went to school here, so we decided not to go back to Manchester and we’ve been here since 1991.”

Henry has travelled far and wide from his Shrewsbury base in his scouting roles with Everton and Sunderland before linking up with West Ham three and a half years ago.

“David Sullivan brought me in and I deal with him and the manager directly," said Henry. “I had been at Everton for eight years before going to Sunderland, my home town club, for three months.

“I was really enjoying it there when right out of the blue West Ham approached me to become their director of recruitment, a role I couldn’t turn down.

“We brought in some really good players from day one, with Randolph, Byram, Cresswell, Kouyate, Obiang, Lanzini, Antonio, Sakho, Fernandes, Nordtveit, Fletcher, Feghouli, Masuaku and Haksabanovic.

“We were trying to bring the average age down in the squad if possible as at the time West Ham had a lot of players aged 31 and 32 and I said the best way forward is to bring in younger players aged 18 to 26. It also gives you good re-sale value, so it completely changed the way we did things.

“After Sam Allardyce left, I had two and a half years with Slaven Bilic and obviously now Moyesy is the manager, which is great because I was with him for eight years at Everton.”

Of his role with the Hammers, Henry explained: “I was initially going abroad a lot, going to games all the time, but it’s more about meeting agents, speaking to clubs, doing negotiations for players for new incoming deals.”