Ask Gary is the weekly fans question and answers session with Town manager Gary Peters...

Ask Gary allows you at ask Gary Peters your burning questions.

If you a have a question you would like putting to Gary then please email askgary@shrewsburytown.co.uk.

Please keep the questions short and to the point, and try to limit to only a couple of questions per email. And remember that Ask Gary is usually done on a Thursday so if you send a question in late on Thursday there is a good chance th

28th February 2008

Rob Sandilands - It's fair to say this season is not going as we all hoped. Are there any major reasons for this, or do you feel it is just a matter of patience and perseverance with what we have?

Gary - I think the major reason is the change of style and the new ground.

We looked like we had got used to it but we are trying to play a different form of football and it's not proving easy. When I got here we were fire fighting and playing a very direct game to try and get out of trouble. We got out of trouble and after that continued playing a very direct game because of our pitch and it worked. Last year we got to the play-off final with nowhere near as good a squad as we have this year. We have better players, a better pitch, better facilities, play a different style of football where we pass the ball more and at the moment that isn't consistent. Some days we will play well and pass the ball well and on other days we won't.

A lot of the players who were with us at the Gay Meadow looked good and worked when we were direct but have moved on now. They got used to turning the opposition and getting the ball forward and playing a very high tempo physical type game and now we are trying to pass it and be tidier. We are getting in players who can pass the ball better and we are now going through a transition year and the style of football has been the one big reason we haven't been able to hit consistency because at present we aren't as good at it as we should be.

If you are going to play more passes to try and get to the goal there is a good chance that some of them won't come off and you then end up defending instead of attacking. The change in style can be a slow process but it's one I think we are winning now and are getting better. It's a change which I think the majority of the supporters wanted us to undertake and the majority of the supports have been patient and get behind us every week, there is a minority of supporters who want the change but don't want to wait.

Chris Corza - Gary, in the case of local players or 'fan favourites' you often get the issue of fans siding with the player rather than you, because the player is sentimentally linked with the club. A prime example is David Edwards' omission from Wembley where people still swear that you got it wrong despite the facts of Edwards being injured and out of form. If it had been any other player this may not have been as much of an issue. Plus (especially if the player is local) every man and his dog claims to be 'big mates' with the player and have all the 'inside gossip', all of which usually contradicts itself!

Do you take things like this into consideration with local players or 'fan favourites', and should you stick your neck out and make an unpopular decision, does it concern you that it may turn fans against you?

Gary - I must make the right decision no matter what the fans think and I will always make my decision based on performance and on how I can take Shrewsbury Town forward.

With the Dave Edwards decision it's very easy for the fans to forget that during that period Dave was having a terrible time on the pitch. Dave hadn't been playing well since he'd turn down a new contract and said he was leaving the club and his performance had dropped, some of the fans were even getting on his back. He then got injured before the MK Dons game and was not available, Ben Davies was injured and Dave was one of the possibilities we could use to come in. Derek Asamoah was chosen in stead and I doubt anyone would have wanted to see Derek left out and he was probably our best player at Wembley. My decision to say to Dave I would include him in the squad was a good decision as Dave admits he was toying with the idea of signing another year to have the chance to play at Wembley, if that had worked we would still have Dave Edwards here this season. In the end it didn't work as Dave had made his mind up to leave and felt very strongly about it. You have to look at it and say he made the right decision, he's playing in the Championship with Wolves and doing well for his country as well, Dave's moved on and so has his career. It was good for the club as we got £400,000 which was a good amount for a player who could have been signed through a tribunal.

I have to make the right decision for the team and for the football club, if people get annoyed with me for making a decision that they don't like then I can't help that. I have to be strong enough to take criticism and at the moment I am taking plenty.

Peter Taylor - We've now conceded more goals than Wrexham and the same as Mansfield. In my opinion Kelvin has not developed a good solid working partnership with any of the various players who have played alongside him this season. The most promising seemed to be Luke Jones. How do you see it?

Gary - On your point about stats we have let in more goals than we have in previous seasons which I am disappointed about. Our goal difference is -2 in comparison to Wrexham's which is -21 and Mansfield which is -12, I agree that ours isn't good but it is better that the two clubs you mention which means we are scoring more goals. If you look at the first question where I mention the style of play that does have an effect on the number of goals we let in.

If we are trying to pass the ball better then balls can get cut out when we try those passes instead of putting in balls to try and turn the opposition and get the ball in behind them, then you will give away more goals. One of the things with direct football is that it eliminates goals for the opposition. The first thing I did when I got to the club was to get players to stop passing the ball in midfield areas so there was less chances of us to concede.

This year we are trying to pass the ball but it does break down sometimes, that was highlighted at Peterborough away when Dave Hibbert tried to play a square ball to Steve Leslie, it was cut out and as we had two midfield players running past making runs it let Peterborough cut us straight though the middle and all of a sudden from it being 1-0 to us it was all level at 1-1. We have to accept that will happen when we play a more attacking passing style of play.

On your point about Kelvin it is a very good point. Colin Murdock and Darran Kempson have both, by their own admission, not played as well as they would have liked to have played. Luke Jones even more so, he came in for three games, the one at home was good but the games away to Accrington and Rotherham were poor. All three players who have taken up that position next to Kelvin haven't done as well as they would have liked to do or as well as I would have liked them to do. It is a good point and Kelvin needs someone to step up and be his partner and create a real solid partnership.

Phillip Williams - Gary, we all know that we have underachieved this season. Realistically, are you now looking towards next season? As in my opinion we have left ourselves with too much to do to get in the playoffs.

Gary - I think you are right we have left ourselves a lot to do but until it is mathematically impossible we will continue try to win every game. If we won every remaining game we would probably comfortably make the play-offs, is that possible? Probably not on the consistency we have shown so far. We are going out to win every game and if we get on a run then who knows what can happen.

You are right in saying that we have got to have one eye on this season and still try to get to the play-ffs, but we have got to have another eye on next season and making sure people who are going to be with us next season get as many games and as much experience as possible. You have to find that balance of preparing for next season whilst still having a go for this season.

We are at the stage where we can go hell for leather as it's only that which can get us to the play-offs.

Richard Edwards - Gary you seem critical of bringing in loan signings unless there is a chance that you may be able to sign them in the future. Did you ever think you had a chance of signing a young David Beckham, if not what has changed your opinion on loan signings?

Gary - The fact is I did feel we might have a chance of signing him. At the time David was so far away from what Man United expected from him that there was a possibility at the end of the season that we could have done something. At the time Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt had all played in the first team quite a bit and I think David had only played a couple of reserve games by then. He was a frail lad and I don't think they were totally sure that he would be able to step up at the time. When I asked to have him on loan Sir Alex Ferguson asked if I thought David would be able to handle our division and where was I going to play him, he was playing central midfield for United's reserves and youth team, and I said I would be playing him out wide right and Sir Alex thought that would be a position that better suited David as ours was a tough division. On the first day I must admit I wasn't sure if he could handle the division so we put him on the bench, especially as on the day we were playing Fulham and they had a beast of a man playing called Terry Hurlock playing in centre midfield and it was better to keep him as far away from Terry as possible. I know Terry really well and he is a legend and a great lad who I've played with myself whilst at Reading, he also went on to play for Southampton, Glasgow Rangers and Milwall. We decided to leave David on the bench until Terry had got tired, we brought him on and he was absolutely magnificent. He probably played too well and adapted too well for us that Manchester United, who were watching every game, realised the talent they had and could utilise at their club. So yes at the time we did feel we had a chance of singing him as United were in two minds due to David's shape at the time.

My views have never changed on the subject of loan signings and it was funny that the other week we had a call from Terry Connor at Wolves asking if we wanted to take Stephen Gleeson on loan. He is the midfield player who played against us for Hereford last week, I asked if he was of contract at the end of season and would they be letting him go, Terry said he was definitely in their plans for the future and the manager liked him so I said that if that was the case then he wasn't for me.

On this loan situation I think people have to understand where I'm coming from, a lot of people think it's just sour grapes as we got beaten by Hereford who had 7 players on loan. It's not that at all, someone has got to stand up to stop lower division club's becoming development/feeder/nursery sides for bigger clubs. I spoke to Jim Gannon and the Stockport chairman in the week and mentioned this; they said I was right as they do the same as us. They take players in on loan but only if they can look at them to see if they are good enough for them and then sign them. They are very aware that as they are a Manchester club then there would be a possibility that they could become a development club for say Man City but wouldn't want to.

We need to make sure that we protect the smaller clubs in having our own players and not developing players for the bigger teams even if it does give us that initial success. I don't believe in it, why do we all get coaching badges and learn to develop and improve players if we just then borrow them from somewhere else that has a great youth development coaches bringing them through. You take them for 3 months and then send them back, it does your club no good and in the long term you won't have players to take you forward. It is a short term fix and isn't something I want to do, is not a way I will ever go as I want to develop players for our club who can go on and do well. Eventually if they become too good and they get better quicker than the football club does then you can sell them. At Preston we made £9 million in transfers, this club has already made money out of young players like Joe Hart and Dave Edwards, who I didn't bring in but trained for quite a while.

I will always remain the same on loan players, I will take players on loan only if I feel we have a chance of signing them on full-time.

Rob Martindale - Where's this so called all out attack gone??? And what has gone on between you and Jimmy Ryan? He's not featured since Hereford away? Why? People like McIntyre, and maybe Garner, that play badly gets a run in the team, whereas Luke Jones has a slightly bad 45 minutes and he's sent out on loan immediately, this can't be good for team morale?

Gary - You'd have to ask the players about team morale, the lads have probably one of the best team morale I've seen at a football club in a long time, especially considering that the results are going badly. They feel they should be getting more from games but the morale is absolutely super. Both Jimmy Ryan and Luke Jones are great lads who love being here and enjoy the football club.

Our policy is to try out young lads as much as possible, put them in and see how they do, if they do well enough you leave them there if they don't you bring them out. More young players get bloodied at this club than most in the country.

Luke has a great game in his first game back at home earlier in the season but had a terrible game away to Accrington and at Rotherham by his own admission. He wanted to go out on loan because he feels that he needs to improve by getting that cut and thrust of football that matters. He needs to get some of that match hardening and I think Jimmy is at the same stage.

Jimmy came in and played a couple of super games for us against higher league opposition. Those games were a lot different than what we normally experience in the league as they gave us more time on the ball and allowed us to play. Those games were a false indication as the higher league teams allow you to play but know they have enough to win the games if they need to. Jimmy played away at Hereford and we think there is a bit more that he needs to do to become a player that will do well in this division and we are working on that.

You have to ask yourself would you pick Asa Hall, Jimmy or David Hunt because that is the question I have to ask myself week in week out. My pick lately has been Asa Hall instead of David Hunt who has more experience or Jimmy who is the opposite and has less experience than Asa. Asa reminds me more of Dave Edwards than any other player I've seen for a while.

Kevin McIntyre is a different player entirely, he is a very strong, aggressive player who wins a lot of headers and tackles for us but can pass the ball and can play. The other three are fighting to play alongside him, you tell me what your choice would be as mines been Asa Hall in recent weeks.

Listen to the full interview with Gary Peters on ShrewsWorld > world.shrewsburytown.com