Shrewsbury's bond strengthened by personality focus insists Tom Flanagan
Shrewsbury Town’s recruitment has to be credited for the tight bond that has been created in the current squad, according to defender Tom Flanagan.
Throughout the summer Steve Cotterill brought in nine new faces to bolster his squad – including three loan signings on deadline day. Prior to that, seven of the signings Cotterill had made in the previous transfer windows he has had are still Shrewsbury players.
Cotterill and his players have spoken about the team spirit and character they have in the dressing room at the club this season – and Flanagan believes a lot of it comes down to the recruitment they club have done to bring in the right person.
He explained: “I think it’s a tight-knit group. That comes from the manager and his recruitment. He is interested in how good you are at football. But maybe he will take someone who isn’t as a good if they are a better person and I think that has paid dividends.
“I don’t think there is anyone in that dressing room looking over their shoulder and thinking ‘what is he saying about me?”
Flanagan has been at the club eight months now since arriving from Sunderland back in January. In that time he has struck up a rapport with defensive partner Matthew Pennington and goalkeeper Marko Marosi, who both signed on permanent deals last summer.
Chey Dunkley has now come into the defensive unit after his summer arrival from Sheffield Wednesday.
And Flanagan believes the defensive unit is probably one of the tightest parts of the side, although he does admit to being biased.
He explained: “Penno I know what he does, better than what I know what Chey does and that’s because I played with Penno for the second half of last season.
“In regards to Dunks, I am still learning with him and he is still learning with me.
“He tells me what he likes and I tell him what I like and we meet in the middle. We may have a little argument and it gets sorted out. But that’s just the way it is.
“In respect to Marko, he has been fantastic again. I kind of know what he wants to do and I think we have got a good relationship.
“I would probably say, and this is a a bit biased, we are the three tightest in the squad. We stick together, between the three of us there has never been any finger-pointing or anything like that. We have got our own little target which we are all really keen to hit.”
