New head of youth coaching looking forward to developing young players
Ian Dawes is relishing the opportunity to work at Shrewsbury Town after being appointed as the new head of youth coaching at the club.
The former Liverpool Academy coach, who holds a UEFA A Licence, spent last season as head coach at Malta Premier League side Floriana.
But after being selected for the youth vacancy at Town, Dawes is now looking forward to working with the under-18s side.
“It’s a massive opportunity and I’m delighted to be here at the club,” said Dawes.
“I appreciate the manager and the chief executive giving me the opportunity to do it and I look forward to working with the players and developing them, hopefully into first team players.
“I’ve got my ideas on how I want to play and how I want to develop players.
“The main thing is that I speak to the manager and see what type of player he wants in his first team. I’ve got to work towards that and get the right player for him.”
Dawes started his own playing career as a schoolboy with Everton before joining Liverpool, where he progressed to become a young professional and had the chance to play in elite tournaments around the world.
His first day with Town involved meeting the new first-year scholars as they were given their induction, and Dawes praised the youngsters for reaching the near-professional stage of their careers.
“It’s a massive achievement (for the scholars),” he said.
“Some of them have been at the club for many years and have worked hard to get to where they are.
“Their career is just beginning now, though. They’ve got a lot of hard work to do in order to progress into the first team.
“It would be nice to continue to produce good players for the first team because, at the end of the day, a club like Shrewsbury needs to be producing local, talented players and providing the first team with the calibre of player that we should be.”