Micky Moore makes Shrewsbury Town budget admission

The duo arrived on deadline day last week as Paul Hurst made late additions to his Salop squad before the transfer window slammed shut.

Gilliead made his debut against Leyton Orient last weekend while Ojo was not registered in time to be in the matchday 18 for the clash at the Croud Meadow.

And Moore has revealed in his most recent open letter to supporters the club extended their playing budget to bring the two in – while Harrison Biggins also left on loan to Carlisle.

“Alongside Leo, the final week of the window saw us bring in Alex Gilliead and Funso Ojo,” he said.

“They are two players Paul wanted to sign which the chairman allowed us to bring in – subsequently meaning we have extended our budget.

“We also saw a deadline day departure in Harrison Biggins. I took a phone call from Carlisle then I spoke to Paul who, in turn, had a meeting with Harrison.

“Harrison felt the right thing for him to do was to go and get more game time. But he is still very much part of our plans and myself, Tom (head of recruitment Tom Ware) and the rest of the first-team staff will be monitoring him closely.”

Town have won one of their first four League One matches, in what has been a challenging start of the season for Salop.

They have a huge clash against Wrexham this weekend before welcoming Nathan Jones’ Charlton to Shropshire next week.

And Moore says with the number of player changes throughout the summer it will take Hurst and his assistant Chris Doig time to help their players gel.

He said: “Because of the number of additions, it is going to take time for them to gel and fully understand how Paul and Chris want them to play.

“But we have now got a squad with good cover and balance – with Alex Gilliead in particular able to play in a variety of positions.

“I mentioned in my previous update the impact the Euros had on clubs up and down the football pyramid when it came to recruitment. That is why so many deals were done in the final few days – with three players arriving here in the last week alone.”