Over the weekend the internet rumour mill has been linking Town with a move for Accrington Stanley's 11 goal striker Paul Mullin.

The player is one that Gary Peters has praised in the past and reports coming from the Lancashire Evening Telegraph linked Mullin with a £75,000 move to a fellow Coca Cola League 2 club and the rumour mill put two and two together.

ShrewsWeb caught up with GP this morning to find out if there was any truth is the rumours. He was quick to confirm them and explain the background to the move and the ambition of town chairman Roland Wycherley: "The rumour definitely has some legs as early last week one of our targets was Paul Mullin and we were looking at him.

"Our chairman wanted to find out how much they wanted, he spoke to the Accrington chairman and in those conversations they said they wanted £75,000 for Paul Mullin.

"With our chairman's enthusiasm and ambition for the club he was so determined to get a striker in for last Saturday that he agreed to that fee to allow us to talk to Paul to see if anything could go ahead. His heart is totally into Shrewsbury Town and at time he shows the real fan that he is by doing whatever it takes to make the club successful;

"A fee was agreed and I think everyone has to admire our chairman's enthusiasm, ambition and drive for the club, that he was willing to pay what was probably over the odds to be able to get Paul Mullin to sign for us who is 33 years of age. I'm sure that Paul will go onto play until he's 36 or older as he didn't turn pro until he was 29 years old.

"His ambition saw the need for the immediate and to be winning games now and to do that make sure that we have a good strike force for the rest of the season.

"It's a strange relationship at this club at times where our chairman is so enthusiastic that sometimes, I have to keep the reins on him, whereas at every other football club you will see the chairman not willing to pay money when the manager is willing to spend the clubs money but the exact opposite happened with this move.

"We've spoke to Paul about the possibility of a move and it won't be going ahead.

"In the long term I think it maybe good that we haven't got Paul in but in the short term he would have done us a really good job. He's already scored eleven goals so far this season and if he gets another eleven in the second half of the season then twenty-two goals from any striker is a great return.

"We have other targets but as usual rumours and things get out in the press and you end up talking about things that don't or won't happen."

The news shows the development and progress that the club is making since GP took the club over nearly 3 years ago. At the time money was short but he has always had the backing of the chairman when it comes to any need to bolster and strengthen his squad: "I've never ever gone into the chairman and asked for something and not got it.

"Our chairman is prepared to push the boat out at anytime if he thinks we will get someone who will make us a better team.

"The fact that I've been a manager in the lower leagues means I do understand that you can't pay money and a lot of the time I don't go in and ask for money.

"We are in a situation now where we feel we need another striker to come in and join us and the chairman is very ambitions to make sure we bring someone in.

"I've got to make sure it's the right player and not only do we get someone who will come in immediately and do well for us but also that we get value for money.

"The chairman's view was, if we had got Paul Mullin in now and got to the play-offs, made the division above then that £75,000 would be money well spent and I can fully understand his point and that would be my view as well.

"If I can use that money to bring in someone who would put value on our pitch immediately by being successful, scoring goals and becoming worth more than we paid then that covers the short term and the long term goal.

"We do have targets and we are going to continue to work on bringing in a striker."

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