Sam Ricketts talks through his decision behind Joe Parkinson becoming the club's First-Team Development Coach.
Shrewsbury Town can confirm that Joe Parkinson has joined Sam Rickett's backroom staff where he will take on the role as First-Team Development Coach.
Sam Ricketts spoke to Shrewsweb and gave his reasoning as to why Joe was the ideal candidate for the position.
"We're delighted to have Joe on board," said Sam. "He's someone that Graham has worked very closely with before at Wigan when they were very successful in this league.
"We're trying to put him into a role where he can help out with the first team but he can also look at the development side with the young players. We want to produce a lot of our own players so he'll provide a link with the academy but he'll also be an individual development coach to work specifically with the players whether that be after sessions to really maximize everything that we have at our disposal.
"We were going to go down that route with Eric this year anyway to a certain extent but with him leaving it has allowed us to accelerate this change so a big part of Joe's role will be developing those young players.
He'll focus on young players who are just leaving the academy and are stepping into the first-team environment to help bridge that gap and educate them but also look after them so if we feel it's right for them to go on loan and get some game time, he'll make sure they are really well monitored and keep their development up when they are away from here.
"First team players who are young or in on loan, for example, young Ro-Shaun who still has a lot to learn but has a really bright future ahead of him, he's someone we can really work with and develop as much as we can.
"We wanted to get Joe in this week so that we can really prepare for this game and try and simulate the season really, try a few things out and see how they work. It was important he was involved with that going forward for the rest of the season."