Danny Coyne warns Shrewsbury Town of Middlesbrough threat

Former Wales international Coyne left his position as goalkeeper coach at the Riverside Stadium a couple of weeks ago when Warnock brought in Ian Bennett in his place.

And the former Shrews keeper coach, who left Town in the summer of 2019 before joining Jonathan Woodgate at Boro, believes the Championship hosts will be a tough nut to crack in the Carabao Cup tonight – despite the mass exodus of players.

“He prides his work in getting the best out of the lads individually,” said Coyne, who spent six years at Shrewsbury, including a successful spell in caretaker charge before Sam Ricketts’ appointment.

“He wants hard work, he demands that. He won’t settle for them not giving everything each game.

“It’ll be a team that is hard-working, organised and probably more together.

“They’ve got a few good individuals who can score like (Britt) Assombalonga, (Ashley) Fletcher has been doing well in pre-season as well.

“They’ve lost a lot of players though, the loan players have gone, quite a lot of established pros have left the club. It’s a thinner squad.”

Coyne, who is moving back down to the Wirral with his family, added: “He tries to get it up to the frontmen as quickly as he can. Get the ball in the box and constant pressure.

“It’s no-nonsense at the back, taking no chances. It’s more direct, you’d say.”

Coyne added: “I always follow Shrewsbury. I spent a lot of time there, I’ve still got friends there, people who are fans.

“I always have a look to see how they are doing. When I saw the fixture I’d just left, which was typical, it would’ve been nice to catch up.

“He (Ricketts) knows what he wants as a manager and he’s building. He’s still young. Time will tell how they do but hopefully it’ll work out well.”

Coyne, whose lasting legacy on Town included helping build the new Sundorne Castle training ground, left Montgomery Waters Meadow as Ricketts reshaped his management team last year, bringing in Brian Jensen.

“It was difficult,” Coyne said about leaving. “But again it’s football, it’s turnover, Sam knows what he wants and I wasn’t in those plans, you just part and that’s football.

“I completely understand, it happens all the time in this game, you’ve got to be thick-skinned, you do the job the best you can. If you don’t fit in, that’s life. No hard feelings with anybody.”

“I’ve not been there for over a year now but I was there a long time, you do get a rapport. I think the fans saw I got my head down and did my job working with the keepers.

“Then we take over for a little bit and they still see you trying. I think they see you care in what you do and have pride in it.

“We worked really hard and wanted to leave it in as good a shape as we could for the manager taking over.”