Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst admits that he will be looking to prove the bookmakers wrong when the 2017/18 season gets underway.
Town are currently second favourites to be relegated from League One next season with a number of betting companies, but Paul will be looking to take inspiration from last season’s relegation fight in the forthcoming campaign
“One of the things that motivates me is to prove people wrong, so hopefully we can make those odds look silly when we get underway, but what I would say is that it is a tough division.
"When you looked at the odds there was a group, which included us, that are expected to struggle and then there’s a big group of teams that will be expecting play-offs or automatic promotion, so it is a tough league.
“I can kind of understand why we have been put in that position, but ultimately we want to make that look at bit silly during the season and we want to have a successful season
“People involved with Shrewsbury Town will all have different opinions on what a successful season constitutes, but for me I want to avoid a relegation battle. I think the fans have been through that the last two years and we want to say away from that.”
Paul has brought in six new faces so far this summer and whilst he admits that they may not be household names, he is hopeful that he has unearthed some hidden gems.
“There’s some players that have got big names, big reputations and will do extremely well and there are others that have had good careers that won’t be good signings and that’s part and parcel of it”, said Paul.
“I’ve said before that we probably have to shop in a different supermarket than some of our competitors in the league and that’s hopefully where going out and watching games and doing lots of scouting will help.
“Daniel James was one that we saw initially and noted his name down and then we went to watch him again a few times, because you are never quite sure what you are going to see and you only see them if you get on the road and do your homework.
“I’m trying to get something a little bit different. There are certain players that every club in the league would go for if they could afford to, so we are looking to get some of those that are a little bit unearthed and I think so far we have managed to do that with a few.
“I think the squad is just shaping up nicely. I’ve spoken about needing some more additions and that work will continue, but I am really pleased with what we’ve done so far.”