Returning Shotton happy to continue learning curve

Jan 24 2009 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

RYAN SHOTTON reckons he is back in the best educational environment he could hope to find in football after rejoining Tranmere this month.

The young Stoke City prospect began a second loan spell of the season with Rovers last weekend and is sure of a warm welcome when he steps out in front of the Prenton Park faithful for this afternoon’s home game against Carlisle United.

“It is great to the back,” Shotton says. “This is the best place for me to develop my game.”

The 20-year-old defender showed Rovers fans he is a fast learner during an initial three-month loan spell on the Wirral during the autumn. He was eager to start a second, extended loan when the January transfer window opened on New Year’s Day but the issue of a new contract with his Premier League employers had to be resolved first.

A little over two weeks later, Shotton was on his way back to Prenton Park with a new deal signed at the Britannia Stadium and a temporary assignment with Rovers in place for the remainder of the season.

“I just wanted the contract to be sorted out so I could get back to Tranmere,” Shotton said. “That was the driving force.”

Shotton said he had “heard a few mentions” of other clubs wanting to sign him after word got around the game about his performance is in 19 Rovers appearances during the first spell.

He added: “I always had it in mind that I wanted to come back to Tranmere rather than anywhere else. I know all of the players here and coming back almost feels like coming home.

“I was very pleased with my progress in the first three months here. I was staying fit, playing lots of games and scoring a few goals. I hope I can continue doing all three.”

Shotton owes all of his experience of league football to his association with Tranmere, which followed a season in Conference football with Altrincham in 2007/08.

He admits the six weeks back at Stoke provided a reminder of how difficult it can be for players outside the Premier League squad to stake a claim.

He said: “Even if Stoke had wanted to give me a game while I was back, there wasn’t a reserve team fixture played in all that time.

“They don’t get many reserve fixtures during a season, two a month is about the average. It’s not a good situation for the players who want to push their way into the first-team. Players can go two and three weeks without a game and that makes it difficult for them to show as much as they want to.

“So coming out of loan is the best way to gain experience and build up some match practice.”

The six weeks between Shotton’s Tranmere appearance against Scunthorpe at the end of November and his return against Millwall last Saturday took its physical toll on the player.

“In the first 20 minutes I was struggling to catch my breath because I was so out of match practice,” Shotton said. “Then towards the end a bit of fatigue set in.”

However, Shotton took the opportunity to work on his long throws while he was at Stoke, adding length and spin to his delivery.

Shotton took his cue from clubmate Rory Delap, whose expertise with the long throw is beginning to pay rich dividends for Stoke in top flight games.

Shotton said: “When I was at Tranmere first time around I did not really practise the throws. When I got back to Stoke in December I thought I really needed to start working on them.

“Rory Delap is doing the throws so well for Stoke and they seem a scoring a lot of goals with them. So now I’m hoping to do the same for Tranmere.”

Shotton did not get the chance to speak to Delap but he took the opportunity to study his technique, then went away to practise.

“Sometimes a couple of team-mates would help me out but if there was no one around I would stand on the side of the pitch and try to throw the ball over the crossbar from the touchline,” Shotton explained.

“Then I would try to get a flatter trajectory with some and put some spin on the ball. Watching Rory, he is always trying to put spin on the ball so when someone heads it, whether it is attackers, defenders or the goalkeeper coming out to make a punch, the ball is liable to fly off anywhere and hopefully cause danger.”