Ex Crewe defender on board as Town build for next season
Shrewsbury Town have completed the signing of 25 year old defender Mark Ellis on a two year deal.
The defender started his career with Bolton but had to join Torquay on loan to get his first experience of league football. He made nearly 100 appearances for the Gulls before joining up with Crewe Alexandra where he has spent the last two seasons helping the Alex secure their League 1 position.
Micky Mellon's new look Town side is beginning to take shape with Ellis now on board to add to recent signings Ashley Vincent and Nathaniel Knight-Percival.
Mark was at the Greenhous Meadow late on Thursday afternoon to finalise the deal with Mike Jackson and put pen to paper:” It's been an exciting few days, I've made a couple of trips to Shrewsbury, had a look around, spoken to Mike, like what I hear and I'm happy to be here.”
Crewe Alexandra released Mark at the end of the season and it brought to end two good years with the club but he's pleased to now have the chance at Town:”I was disappointed to leave a good club like Crewe and would have liked to have stayed if that had been offered.
“That wasn't the case so I've had to look elsewhere and can't think of many better places to come to than Shrewsbury.
“Some might look at the move and think it's a backward step but I want to be playing in League 1 and the club want to come straight back up.
“The more experienced players you get in and players who have played at a higher level gives the club that better chance.”
With the deal all signed it now means that Mark can relax ahead of the start of the pre-season training programme. The players are back at the end of June and it will be an important time to work on fitness but also on the team spirit:”I set myself a deadline to get something sorted but we have managed to get it done a lot sooner so that's pleasing as I can go away and relax.
“I don't think anyone looks forward to pre-season but I've had enough of them to know what it's all about.
“Obviously we are going to have to gel as a team with the new players coming in and hopefully we will be able to achieve that sooner rather than later.”
Mark is still based in the Crewe area but will be looking to move nearer to Shrewsbury. Micky Mellon is tasked with helping Town bounce back into League 1 and Mark is looking forward to being part of that team:”The club want to bounce back after relegation and that's the reason I made my mind up to come to Shrewsbury
“I've not spoken to Micky yet and don't know much about him but I've spoken a lot to Mike.
“He's filled me in on what they want to do and where they want the club to go and I'm more than happy to be a part of that.”