Brian Caldwell believes David Longwell will help to push the Academy to the next level.
Shrewsbury Town are delighted to announce David Longwell as the club's new Academy Manager.
Town CEO Brian Caldwell spoke to ShrewsWeb about Longwell's background and why he was so delighted to have been able to bring David to the Club.
“Obviously I know David very well, he was with me at St Mirren, he’s got a fantastic history of developing young players”, said Brian.
“So many players have come through the St Mirren academy and that’s all down to David - John McGinn who’s at Aston Villa, Kenny McLean who’s at Norwich and Lewis Morgan who’s at Celtic. There are plenty of others who have come through and he had plenty of success over his time at St Mirren.
“I’m sure he’ll be a massive success for us. The last three years since he left St Mirren he first went to Orlando as director of their academy and then got head hunted within a year by the New York Red Bulls.
“It’s a coup to get him here to Shrewsbury, he’s been down over the Christmas period to get an idea of the area. He met Eric and Sam so we’re now looking forward to having him on board and we think he’ll be a great asset to this football club.
“The academy has progressed quite considerably over the last few years and for me David is one who can continue that progression."
Brian sees the academy job as an appealing job for any coach given the success of the academy and its growth over the last few years.
“I sold it to David about the potential that we’ve got, I think there’s always more that we can do to improve things”, said Brian.
“I know David well and I know he’s very focussed on making sure the standards are correct.
"I’m sure he’ll lift everything at the academy and make sure he continues the hard work that Andy Jones and Eric have done over the last few years.
“You look at the potential in the area, Wolves being a Premiership side means they are only dealing with elite individuals
“There’s never going to be a better opportunity for players to come and play for Shrewsbury Town Academy and get a pathway to first-team football.
“You don’t have to look far with the likes of Ryan Sears coming on against Wolves last week as an example. It shows Sam isn’t shy of playing the younger ones. James Rowlands and Ryan Barnett have also been involved in first-team games.
“David has been on the phone to me every night talking about the positives the current staff have implemented and looking at little tweaks on how he we can take the academy forward and continue to evolve it. David demands success and he demands hard work.
“He’s got a fantastic work ethic and a fantastic reputation in Scottish football, and now in America, so for me it’s a great addition.”