00:00 What are your thoughts on Paul Hurst's return to the team?
00:08 You sat down with Paul Hurst recently to reflect on the end of the season news, the release
00:16 of the retain list and things like that. Obviously we've seen some of the comments about the
00:21 players they have offered deals to, but in terms of the quotes that he gives you, he
00:27 seemed quite buoyant and realistic about the off-field situation and the budgets that he's
00:35 probably going to have to work to.
00:37 He said that a couple of times, he's not come into the job with his eyes shut and suddenly
00:41 found out the situation is as it is and had it thrown upon him. He knew exactly what he
00:46 was walking into, so he's aware of it. He knew what he was walking into when he accepted
00:54 the job. That is the short and long of it basically. It will be a difficult season,
01:02 I imagine. He won't have that excuse to be fair. He will want to be pushing, he will
01:09 want to be competing, he will want to be finding gems from wherever they can find them from.
01:13 They will be working hard on the training field. There's got to be something exciting
01:18 about having a new team, just moulded in a four-hurst kind of... Because there's nothing
01:23 to say that because you've got a lower budget that you can't punch above your weight.
01:26 You can't do that. You've done it before. You haven't been through a pre-playoff final.
01:31 I think there's something kind of exciting. We're in a better position than we are this
01:35 time last year. Everything's a little bit more settled. We've got a manager in place.
01:39 We're not going to do any of that. Obviously we need players, but I do think there's something
01:45 exciting about building a new squad and seeing that shape together.
01:48 Given the solid upheaval in the finances and stuff, does that maybe... I know Paul Cook
01:54 has got a lot of credit in the bank with Shrewsbury fans. Is it a case of getting a competitive
02:00 side together and getting through next season? Obviously the last time he came, he came in
02:07 the midway through the season and kept Shrewsbury up in the lead 1. Then they went on to have
02:10 a fantastic season. That's highly likely not going to happen this time. It's probably going
02:15 to be a case of lowering the wage bill as well as trying to survive the move on.
02:21 Exactly. That's exactly what it is. Lowering the wage bill, trying to get things into more
02:28 of a solid place off the field. As competitive as they possibly can be on it, that's probably
02:32 as much as you'd perhaps expect. If they do well with their recruits. It's all about recruitment.
02:37 It's almost more important. It's the most important thing in football these days. Your
02:41 recruitment at any level. It's all about what kind of players you're bringing in.
02:45 Then probably the second most important thing is how well you're coaching them. But to get
02:51 that player recruitment is going to be absolutely massive. Obviously they've got a decimated
02:54 squad at the moment, nine players. Some of those are players that haven't really played
02:59 that much. So you're probably looking at, you can count on one hand the important players
03:03 that are probably looking at perhaps starting the first game of next season. So there's
03:08 a lot of recruiting and developing that needs to come from the audience.
03:12 Is there more of a spotlight again on the players in the building at the moment? More of a spotlight
03:19 obviously last year they went with a different tact in terms of director of football, different
03:23 way of recruiting players. Didn't work and came in for quite a bit of criticism from
03:27 the outside. Does that put even more of a spotlight on the team this time?
03:31 Or has that taken off a little bit by the fact that they're going to have more players?
03:35 I don't know. I don't know to be honest. I suppose it's just one of those things isn't
03:39 it? Porthurst will be working together with his assistant Chris Doyle, with the director
03:43 of football, Mickey Moore. They'll all be working together. So we're just going to have
03:50 to wait and see how it unfolds. We're going to have to wait and see what players they're
03:53 bringing in. I'm sure we'll find out very soon when they start to make moves in the
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