Andy Cooke a fan of Shrewsbury defensive pair
Andy Cooke believes Shrewsbury Town ‘mean business’ with their summer recruitment – and their new defensive duo could be key to success.
Town start their pre-season friendly campaign tonight at neighbours AFC Telford with fans able to catch a first glimpse of the six new summer recruits.
Former striker turned radio pundit Cooke, who briefly played under manager Steve Cotterill at Stoke, is particularly impressed by the additions of Chey Dunkley and Taylor Moore, the centre-backs signed permanently and on loan from Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City respectively.
“I believe the two key signings are the centre-backs, Chey and Taylor, they are big signings for me,” Cooke said. “Lads who have played and competed for bigger clubs at a higher level, with Flanagan and Pennington there it’s a decent backline.
“(Julien) Dacosta at wing-back gives options there. Even with the odd injury it gives a bit of options in depth.
“I think Town probably would’ve learned a lot from last year, waiting on players with the season starting and they weren’t where they needed to be.
“It causes problems when you want lads to do pre-season together. When you wait for the last knockings of players they probably aren’t up to scratch and you’re playing catch-up until into September. They’ve acted quickly. On paper it looks quite strong. On their day last season Shrewsbury were hard to beat, at the end of the day they want to compete and push for those play-offs.”
Town aim to improve on last season’s finish of 18th in League One. Cooke added: “We knew signings were needed and it was just about what were they going to do.
“Was it going to be quantity to try to get in what they could that was available out there and try to build a bit more of a squad?
“He’s probably gone one better, to a point though – on paper – the signings show a decent calibre and that there’s some backing from the board to get it.
“We know in this day and age that nothing is cheap, even a free transfer or a loan there’s wages involved, especially these lads who’ve played at a decent level for big clubs.
“I think they’ve shown they mean a bit of business, they’ve backed the manager, the Aiden O’Brien signing gives that triangle of competition up front.”
