Dave Edwards: My Shrewsbury Town team-mate XI is not short on model pros!
With things going a little quiet in the early summer down-time, I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane.
I’ve selected my best Shrewsbury XI from across my two stints at the club. I went for 4-3-3, some old, some more recent – I hope I haven’t missed anybody out!
Dave's XI (4-3-3):
Joe Hart: Joe’s my good mate, I knew from a young age he’d be a top, top keeper and he’s excelled at the highest level. I’m delighted he’s just one another major honour at Celtic. He was a no-brainer in goal.
Ben Herd: Ben was Mr Consistent in my first spell at Town. We were a similar age, he was one of the best I played with in one-v-one situations, he was very rarely beaten. Gary Peters would always get Herdy to give demonstrations on how to defend!
Matthew Pennington: I only had six months with Penno, but having watched him this year he’s a Championship defender, definitely. With a bit of luck he could even play higher. He defends for his life, puts his body on the line. I don’t think people realise how good he is on the ball either.
Darren Tinson: Captain in our Conference season, he was brilliant in every game, a real fans’ favourite. He was brave as a lion and a leader of men. He brought everyone together, was so reliable and in unbelievable shape, the perfect professional. In that era it wasn’t the norm!
An honorary mention to Kelvin Langmead, an excellent servant who joined us as a striker!
Nathanael Ogbeta: Natty was our star player in my last season. He had loads of ability and is now at a higher level. I think he can make the step to be a top-end Championship player and maybe get back to the Premier League. Technically very good and attacks really well.
Stewart Drummond: Everyone played 4-4-2 then and he was my midfield partner. I looked up to him massively, he’s coaching at Morecambe. He allowed me to do what I wanted, to go and run, get in the channels and box. He was the safety net and glue and very good technically. In the two years we played together, he was by far and best and most consistent player.
Josh Vela: Josh has been unbelievable at the club. He was injured early on which frustrated him as the physios held him back. But since he’s been brilliant, our stand-out player. He’s aggressive, tenacious, has quality and runs with the ball well.
Ben Davies: Ben went on to Derby and Sheffield United. His ability and technique wasn’t natural, it was all hard work, I’ve never seen anyone work so hard in training on their technique. He would works for hours after training on corners and free-kicks.
Shaun Whalley: I knew of Shauny from being a fan long before I came back. He was everything I’d heard about and seen of him when I signed. A real bright spark, unpredictable in a good way, make things happen and get fans off their seats – what you want from wingers. I feel sorry it hasn’t worked out for him since I came back, really, because we’ve largely played three at the back. If not he’d have scored 10 or 20 more, easily.
Sam Aiston: It’s my podcast mate Super Sam. He was one I was a fan of when I watched as a young fan. Like Shauny he was exciting, would rampage up that left wing. His ability to carry the ball 60-70 yards up the pitch with pace and power lifted Gay Meadow.
Tyrese Campbell: This was tricky, I played with so many strikers at Town, loan after loan, they’d scored 30 goals the season before and then two for us! I played with Holty at Wolves but missed him here. I wasn’t with Tyrese long but ability-wise he stuck out like a sore thumb on loan from Stoke. He was brilliant for us – our best player in the second half of that season. You could see he had bags of potential.
