Shrewsbury Town are pleased to confirm we will play pre-season games at home to Premier League side Aston Villa and away to sky Bet League Two side Cheltenham Town.
The games will be part of Town’s preparation’s for our fifth consecutive Sky Bet League One season and be part of the pre-season programme ahead of the season start on Saturday 3rd August.
Town will play a training game during their Portugal training camp and are close to confirming three more games to complete the pre-season programme.
Tuesday 9th July – (A) Training game with Sheffield Wednesday in Portugal
Sunday 21st July – (H) - Aston Villa (2pm)
Tuesday 23rd July – (A) – Cheltenham Town (7:45pm)
The training game in Portugal will be held at Estadio da Nora, Ferreiras, in Albufeira on Tuesday 9th July. The game will be open to Town supporters to attend with admission on the night costing €10 for adults and €5 U12.
Town manager Sam Ricketts and his staff have planned the pre-season training programme to test and prepare the players for the start of the Sky Bet League One season.
“We are trying to be a little bit diverse and are trying to play against teams who play different styles to test ourselves”, said Sam.
“Pre-season is going to be very hard and it’s going to be a big learning curve in a lot of areas because we are going to change the way we are going to play slightly.
“We need to test the players for and that is what pre-season for, the practice games are there to test what we are trying to achieve in training.
“When the league games start we will be playing sides who play a whole host of different ways so we need to be prepared to counter those different styles.”
The pre-season programme has been planned to be hard work for players to build their fitness levels up. The opposition have been chosen to give the side different tests against different styles of sides.
“We have a number of games at home and a number away and they are all part of getting back into the routine of playing games”, said Sam.
“The players have earned the right to have a rest over the break and then we come back into pre-season.
“We can play pretty football which is all very nice but we need to win our headers, win our first balls and do all the nitty gritty that is really important to win football matches.
“All the hard work and games is to make sure that we are ready for when that first Sky Bet League One game kicks off on Saturday 3rd of August.”
The squad fly out to Portugal on Sunday 7th July to start a week of hard work training in the hot weather. The trip will include a training game that will be open to Town fans that might be in the area.
“It will be hard work but it also a time for the players to be in each others pockets over the week”, said Sam.
“It is a time when relationships on the pitch are made and existing ones can continue to grow.
“It will very much be a training game and won’t be a game of two 45 minute halves.
“The game will be a stop and start where we will be working on what we have been in training, but the opposition will be doing the same.
“It is a really good opportunity to play a game against a good opposition and get a really good training game under our belt.
“It would be nice to see any supporters who are in the area pop along to the game as I doubt they would mind watching the game in the sunshine.”
We will release full ticket details and prices shortly.