Shrewsbury Town

Micky Mellon was delighted as he unveiled former Port Vale man Louis Dodds as his third signing of the summer.

The 29-year-old has penned a two-year deal at the Greenhous Meadow as Mellon continues to rebuild his squad and looks to improve on last season’s Sky Bet League 1 finish.

Mellon said he admired the type of player Dodds is and believes he is one of the best performers in the third tier.

“He is a very good player again who I have known about for a long time – way back from my Fleetwood times,” said the manager.

“I have always been impressed by him and he is the type of player I believe we need to get into the football club to keep us improving.

“He scored against us this season but there is a lot more to his game than scoring goals. He is a strong front runner, leads the line or plays just off front men really well. He can play in wide areas but he is a strong boy who can get hold of the ball with his movement and strength in the final third and keep it up there. 

“That will help to get us up the right end of the pitch and cause some damage up there.

“He can play in a number of positions but the main thing is is ahead of the ball when defenders or midfielders are looking for somebody to give the ball to he is always an option with his movement and his strength and his strong running power. He competes very well and wants to win games of football.”

Signing for Town sees Dodds end his eight-year stay in the Potteries and Mellon believes it is a good time for him to have a change of scenery.

“It is probably a good time for Louis to have a change of environment. He has been at Port Vale for a long time and given them great service and we are delighted to get him on board,” he told ShrewsWeb.

“Anyone that knows anything about League One football knows that Louis Dodds is one of the most impressive performers in it. We have got ourselves a big strong boy who is a very good footballer.

 “Like we have said he is the type of player we want to bring in. I am sure Shrewsbury fans will now see the type of thing we are trying to build here. 

“He has had a lot of games at this level and knows what it takes to win games at this level and he is a real good addition to the group and he is a good guy as well so we are really pleased to get him in.”

Dodds follows Gary Deegan and Olly Lancashire in signing two-year contracts at Shrewsbury and the manager said the recruitment process has been planned out for a while.

“The recruitment we are doing now has been in the offing a while now,” he said.

“We believe that the homework that has been done on these players is right. We are pleased so far and there will be more to try and make us a very good force next season.

“It is not something where we have woken up one morning and panicked and taken whoever is available. All these players that we are bringing in we have watched them and wanted them for some time now.”

The manager reserved praise for chief executive Brian Caldwell for the way he has negotiated the deals and said chairman Roland Wycherley has always been kept informed of his plans.

“All we are doing now is trying to press the button on them and get things negotiated which I must say Brian is doing unbelievably well with,” said Micky.

“He has been fantastic the way he has negotiated and got these over the line. It has been terrific and really pleasing to work with. 

“I am in constant dialogue with him all the time so we will continue to try and do what we want to do and that is put a team on the pitch that the people of Shrewsbury are proud of. 

“The chairman knew what my plan was all along. I was always very clear about that because he is the owner of the football club and loves the football club and he is the man at the top so it was important for me to show him there was a plan behind everything we do.”