ShrewsWeb revealed the news this morning that Chris Neal would be joining the club on a 3 year deal from Preston North End.

Chris was at the club yesterday evening and we spoke to him then about how the move had come about: "I had a phone call from Paul Simpson a couple of weeks ago asking about my availability for the coming season.

"I made it clear that I wanted to be playing games next season and that is the reason that I have signed for Shrewsbury."

The Gaffer and Dave Timmins have worked with Chris during their time at Preston and Chris is pleased to be working with people he knows and at club he also knows: "It's nice to come back to a familiar place and to work with familiar people.

"I worked with the Gaffer up in Preston and the same with Timmo which was a good experience.

"I came to Shrewsbury on loan a few seasons ago so there are still a few familiar faces around here and it's good to be back."

Chris played just the one game for Town during his loan spell back in 2007 and also had a loan at Morecambe following that. He hasn't broken into the Preston team since then and that was one of the reasons for looking for a move elsewhere: "Not a lot to be honest, I've been sitting on the bench at Preston and had a couple of other loan moves.

"I know this is now my opportunity to play some first team games and to get some League experience under my belt.

"I think it was about time that I left Preston as I'd been in the same situation for two of three seasons where I was getting frustrated with other keepers in front of me.

"I spoke with the gaffer in Preston and we decided that this is my opportunity to play games.

"I loved my time up in Preston but in football you sometimes have to move on to get your chance and I think that this is mine."

The focus now is to get down to the hard work of pre-season training and get to know his new team mates. The vital preparation work will be done over the coming weeks do that Town are ready for the league kick off on august the8th: "Pre-season's are always hard but I'm raring to go now and really want to get into the hard work on the training field.

"I haven't met Glyn or Andreas yet but I till do today, I know Timmo and I know the way that he works and the session that he puts on. They are tough sessions but we have to get through them as Timmo is going to do everything he can to get us ready for the season.

"The Gaffer was saying that the Burton game is5 weeks away so we have that time to put the work in to make sure we have a positive start to the season and to then push on."