Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill: Room for one more before we have to balance books
Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill revealed there is room in the wage budget for one more signing before having to balance the books.
The Town chief remains on the lookout for another striker this summer but said the club’s wage budget is getting ‘up to the brim’.
Cotterill also revealed he is working with the same playing budget as last season following a series of high-profile additions.
“We probably do but we’re getting a little bit up to the brim now with wages,” Cotterill said. “There might be another one – if there’s another one, to get another on top of that probably someone would have to go out.
“But you know what the market’s like, forever moving, you could get a call to tell you someone’s available you tried to get six months ago or whether someone comes in for one of your players. You never know what’s around the corner.”
Cotterill’s side play their final pre-season against Championship side Cardiff at Montgomery Waters Meadow tonight, a clash delayed until 8pm due to extreme heat.
The manager said of his additions: “Getting them in to some part of pre-season was obviously a bonus.
“It would’ve been better if we could’ve got them in earlier. We’re working here off of the same budget which we worked off of last year.
“So there’s not been any huge investment to make it all of a sudden that we’ve signed players.
“What we’ve done is met players early, made them feel wanted – yes of course they’ve gone to other people and spoken to them – we’ve worked extremely hard off the pitch to try to convince these players to come to us for less money than they were offered elsewhere.
“I certainly think in quite a few cases that’s happened this year. It hasn’t just been one sit-down meeting with them, it’s been two or three, traipsing around the country, I just hope it comes to fruition.
“It’s been really tiresome to get the boys we’ve got, let’s just hope they are the right ones. I think they all showed on Friday – and it’s very difficult when you come into a new club – I said to the boys already here, imagine how difficult it was for you when you came in last year.”
