Liam Eaton joins as the new Head of Coaching at Shrewsbury Town Academy.
On his role:
"I've just started as Head of Coaching at the football club so I'm really excited. The role in essence is to support the coaches at Shrewsbury Town Academy and to make sure they're keeping up with their own education but also delivering the sophisticated programme we want day to day.
"Everything we do is about players and it's our responsibility to make sure we're delivering the right thing and that that's in line with the way we play at the football club."
On his work with the under-18s:
"I'll be working with Kyle Kirby and the under-18s in the Youth Alliance League. We start our season this Saturday away at Walsall. The programme is massively led by Kyle who will lead the Professional Development Phase but I'll be there to support him. We've got a really good group this year - a group I'm really excited about - so we want to challenge in the [cup] competitions and especially in the league.
"On top of that, we have a responsibility to these children - which is what they still are - to help develop them into young men and give them a path hopefully within the game. We've also been working with the FA to get them their UEFA C License (a coaching qualification)."
On his background:
"I moved to Shrewsbury in late 1999. I went through the academy system at Wolverhampton Wanderers and then I was in and out of the game until I found my feet again back in 2013 when my son started to play.
"I was doing all the competitions as a grassroots coach and, now I'm here, I see the real importance in working with grassroots coaches. This is a community football club and for me, I want to try and connect local coaches and players to our football club. Not everyone will make it all the way through but I think everyone deserves a chance and the experience to have some kind of input in our club."
On how he went from being a grassroots coach to Head of Coaching:
"I started as a grassroots coach and then joined Shrewsbury as the under-10s coach, then under-12s, then under-14s, then under-16s and now they've made me the Head of Coaching. There is absolutely the pathway for grassroots coaches to get involved."
On how grassroots coaches can get involved at the club:
"We run the CVP (Coach Volunteer Programme) and that's open to people watching this interview. Ideally, people need to have Level 2 coaching before going through this programme. But it's a great stepping stone to a full-time career.
"You can check it out on the Academy's Twitter page or contact me via my email which is liam.eaton@shrewsburytown.co.uk"
