Shrewsbury CEO Brian Caldwell: We have got to choose quality or quantity

Over the summer, Salop added nine players to their squad to help them compete in League One for the 2022/23 season.

But on Saturday, they were missing five regular first-team players through suspension or injury, which limited Steve Cotterill’s options to choose from.

But Caldwell says they cannot have it all their own way – and if they are to sign good players then it comes at a cost.

“I think we have got more quality in there,” he said when asked about Town’s summer recruitment. “But I think it is also very difficult to get numbers.

“People say all the time ‘you are working with a small squad’ – you cannot have it both ways.

“You either go for quality, or you go for quantity within the EFL rules, and try to compete as much as possible on wages as well.

“I do think we have a bit of quality, and I look back to the team this time last year and the team two years ago, and I think we have got more quality right across the pitch plus strength on the bench.

“It is not helped by the two ACL injuries you know, which you just cannot legislate for.

“But I still think we have got a very strong squad to compete at this level.”

League One contains some huge clubs, some of which have had recent Premier League experience.

Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich can have attendances in excess of 20,000 which puts them in a different financial bracket to Town.

But Caldwell said Salop are ‘striving’ to increase turnover to allow them to put more money into football while staying within the league rules.

“We are always trying to strive to put as much money as we can within the EFL rules.

“You can only spend 60 per cent through the salary cap management protocol of your allowable turnover. So the more we can do to increase the turnover, and get more people along then the more we can spend on players’ wages.

“League One has changed quite a bit in recent years.

“You look at the number of big clubs in there – there are seven or eight ex-Premier League teams there with big crowds.

“If you look at the average crowds across the division there are so many teams with over 15,000 or 20,000 coming to watch their games.”So it is hard to compete with a 6,000 crowd.”

Despite the challenges of being one of the smaller sides in League One Town have had a great start to the season. Steve Cotterill has led the team to ninth in the table, and they are 10 points better off than they were at this stage last season.

And Caldwell says if they can keep this momentum up it might make them a more attractive proposition for players.

He continued: “Some of the wages in this league are just unbelievable, but hopefully going forward if we can have a positive season this year, and be well away from the relegation zone, hopefully, it would encourage more players to come as well. I think that helps recruitment too. Players will potentially look at your last few seasons.”