Luke back at Town until the end of the season
There will be a familiar face in the Shrewsbury Town squad at Leyton Orient tomorrow after Graham Turner agreed a deal to bring Luke Rodgers back to the club.
The 30-year-old needs no introduction given his successful first spell at Shrewsbury in which he scored 65 goals before leaving for Crewe in 2005.
More recently he has partnered the legendary Thierry Henry up front for New York Red Bulls and he's spent the early months of this season with League one rivals Portsmouth.
Rodgers has joined Shrewsbury initially on loan and when the transfer windows re-opens in January he will sign a deal which will keep him at the Greenhous Meadow until the end of the season.
"He's obviously a goalscorer and people around Shrewsbury Town know him well enough," said the manager. "He was a very popular character when he was here first time.
"He's gone off and got a lot of experience. I'm told he's quietened down a little bit now from his early days but I just think his movement, his goalscoring ability, might spark something in the penalty area for us.
"It's obviously been a weakness so far this season, the number of goals we've scored, but it's not the only weakness as we've got to stop the goals going in at the other end.
"I'm hoping Luke will just add that expertise in and around the penalty area with his movement, his slickness of getting in for chances.
"Goalscorers generally know where to go, where to stand and lose defenders, and he can do that so we're just hoping it will come off for us."
Rodgers featured regularly for Portsmouth in the early weeks of the season before losing his place owing to injury, but he did play for Pompey in last weekend's FA Cup tie against Notts County, another of his former clubs, at Fratton Park.
Graham added: "It looked as though it was working out for him in the early days at Portsmouth. Obviously he was out of the side or he wouldn't be available to us.
"He played in the FA Cup last Saturday so he's just had a first team game so he'll be ready for action for us at Leyton Orient."
Rodgers will train with his new Shrewsbury team mates for the first time this morning before travelling with the squad to London ahead of tomorrow's clash at Brisbane Road.
Luke will have the squad number 29.
Luke joins Town subject to approval from the Football League and the Football Association.