D3D4 Shrewsbury Town correspondent Ian Evans (@Shrewite on twitter) is hoping his beloved Salop will still delight as they step into the unknown in 2018/19…

Last season was…

Barely believable. The club came together as one guided by a young, modern manager with a strong work ethic and a steadfast belief in his players. He put together a young, modern team who were so fit they could go that extra mile and pick up points even when the chips were down and things looked impossible in games.

We lived the dream for so long last season it was truly remarkable, but things didn’t turn out the way we would have hoped, the final hurdles always induced a Salopian stumble.

The Checkatrade Final against Lincoln was a chance to bury our Wembley curse (no win in three at the national stadium at that point) but that chance wasn’t taken as the players froze on the big stage disappointingly losing 1-0.

Pushing League One big spenders Wigan and Blackburn all the way over the course of the season was a marvellous achievement, but we all know how it ended with Rotherham cooking the Shrews in the blisteringly hot sun at Wembley in the Play-off Final to take the final promotion place with a 2-1 extra time win. Make no bones about it another Wembley defeat was tough to take. The fan base and the club as a whole were disconsolate but it turned out more devastation was on the horizon as the highly sought after Paul Hurst upped sticks and took the Ipswich Town hot seat the day after the defeat.

Fans were understandably angry and with illegal tap ups being mentioned by Salop’s CEO some branded Hurst a snake. The disappointing thing is, if Hursty had left in the right way then he would have gone as a hero for the season he had just given us, but unfortunately some people now view him under a cloud, which is disappointing and I think he may look back on that in the future and wished things had happened differently.

This season will be different because…

We have a new manager who seems to have a slightly more attacking mentality than Hurst judging from the set up and style played in preseason. John Askey is a Macclesfield legend and his stock with the Silkmen rose even further last season as he guided the unfancied and skint Moss Rose back side back into the EFL. He endured a tough start after taking the hot seat at Salop. Big players Abu Ogogo, Junior Brown, Craig McGillivray and Alex Rodman all turned down contract offers and departed and leaving the Salop fans feeling quite low and wondering if he had the contacts to be able to replace not only them but also the big name loanees that returned to their parent clubs, Dean Henderson, Ben Godfrey, Carlton Morris et al.

This summer’s transfer business has been…

A slow burn.

It became a serious concern that Askey was struggling to get in what he wanted from the transfer market, but it turned out he was just having to bide his time and it turns out having spoken to a few Macc fans Askey doesn’t panic or drop constant sound bites in the media, he stays calm perseveres and normally comes up trumps and this was definitely the case here.

Two new goalkeepers finally arrived after what seemed like the longest search in history. Steve Arnold is expected to play back up to highly rated Huddersfield loanee Joel Coleman, who helped the Yorkshire side into the Premier League a couple of years ago.

Left Back Ryan Haynes joined from Coventry for an undisclosed fee after Askey had raided his former club for Centre Back Kieran Kennedy for another boringly tedious undisclosed fee.

Exciting Left Winger Fejiri Okenabirhie joined from Stevenage for, yes you guessed it another undisclosed fee. Right Winger Alex Gilliead joined on a free from Newcastle and seasoned Centre Mid Doug Loft arrived after a successful trial. Charlie Colkett signed a season long loan from Chelsea to provide competition in the centre of midfield along with one Askey seemed to wait a while for in Josh Laurent from Wigan, the fee surprisingly being undisclosed…..how frustrating.

Up top Aaron Amadi-HollowayAmadi arrived from Oldham for yet another staggeringly undisclosed fee he will help bolster the forward options of Stefan Payne and Lenell John Lewis.

My expectation for this coming season is…

I dream of a playoff challenge again, but I’m not sure if that will materialise. I think there are question marks over this squad and also how much a more attacking philosophy will affect last season’s rock solid defence. Unlike with Hurst at the beginning of last season we haven’t had the benefit of seeing how Askey operates, so anything top twelve ish I would consider a good season.

If my team were a food they would be…

Seafood Tapas. Fresh, exciting and we are hoping for something exhilarating…..but watch out it could be crazy unpredictable moving forward!