Shropshire Star

Sam Ricketts: No risks in transfer market for Shrewsbury

Sam Ricketts believes ‘sustainable’ Shrewsbury Town will spend smart in the summer transfer window rather than take risks for big reward.

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Town spent big last summer as they backed John Askey with £650,000 in transfers including smashing their transfer record after receiving healthy fees that summer.

Ricketts, who is entering his first full season as Town boss, faces a crucial summer of recruitment to improve on Shrewsbury’s 18th-place League One finish.

But the former Wrexham boss is not expecting the club to spend outside their means, adding he is a fan of how Town chairman Roland Wycherley operates.

Asked if he will be backed with transfer fees, Ricketts said: “We are a sustainable club and rightly so.

“We have options but it’s always sustainable. It’s how we use it and work it to try to make us as competitive as we can be.”

On the board, Ricketts continued: “Yes they’ll definitely support me.

“They support and back what we need and what we try to do. But like I said, it all has to be in a sustainable format.

“We’re not a risk for reward or speculate to accumulate. We are where we are and I like that about the club. We’re consistently trying to improve as well.”

In a tight and inconsistent season in the third tier Town finished just three wins from a place in the top half.

And Ricketts feels only fine margins, and not major improvements, are needed.

“I think pretty much every game is a 50-50,” he added.

“There are not big margins in the league. It’s little details in terms of final shot, final cross, that makes all the difference.

“So we have to work on that a little bit, but there’s not a real huge gap.

“It’s not like we’re getting beat four or five nil every week. From that respect I do think we can make up the ground, it’s just how consistently you do it to where you finish.”