Shrewsbury favourite hoping Pompey legend and Bolton, West Ham & Luton Town star gets the time to make impact at the Crowd Meadow

Former Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder David Edwards is hoping ex-Pompey star Matty Taylor gets 'more time' to work with his players at Shrewsbury Town.

The Pompey favourite is five games into his role at League One rivals Shrewsbury, and has so far tasted two league victories, two defeats in the league and a loss to Leeds United in the Carabao Cup. The 41-year-old was appointed as the replacement to former Pompey boss Steve Cotterill, who left the Shropshire club back in June.

It took three weeks for Shrewsbury to decide on Taylor, who took on just his second job of his senior managerial career, having had an indifferent time in League Two with Walsall. He had a caretaker spell with Swindon Town as a player-manager, as well as a two-year stint at Tottenham Hotspur.

Taylor does have support from a popular Shrewsbury figure David Edwards, who had two spells at the club. The 37-year-old made 216 appearances for Salop, and scored 20 goals as he helped them win promotion from the conference.

In his column with the Shropshire Star, he lent his support to Taylor, and said: "Matt Taylor will be hoping for a little bit more time to work with his players on the training field and from a physical point of view it’s been very demanding for Shrewsbury.

"He’s not been able to shuffle the pack as much as he’d like and that shows the need for reinforcements.

"They’ll be looking to do a little bit of business before the end of the window, to help out in that aspect. With such a short pre-season, inconsistency was always going to be there in the opening spell of the season.

"In terms of transfers, I think they need a little bit more in the forward areas to come off the bench and compete."

Taylor has overseen a summer of change at the club with eight players departing, either through the club releasing them or getting an opportunity elsewhere.

Club captain Luke Leahy was a late departure and he was signed by Wycombe Wanderers for an undisclosed fee. Taylor has worked around things and has been able to bring in 11 players in total, including former Sunderland midfielder Carl Winchester.

Taylor had a 20-year playing career and began at Luton Town, before moving to Portsmouth where he spent six years before moving on to Bolton Wanderers and later West Ham United. Taylor during the later stages of his career played for Burnley, Northampton Town and Swindon Town.

Taylor faces the Blues on Saturday, December 16 at the New Meadow, before the reverse fixture takes place at Fratton Park on Saturday, April 6, 2024.