Contract decisions made and two made available for transfer
After a series of meetings with his players, Northampton Town manager Chris Wilder has confirmed the following retained list.
PLAYERS UNDER CONTRACT FOR 2015/16
Brendon Moloney
Evan Horwood
Marc Richards
Zander Diamond
Lawson D'Ath
Jason Taylor
Ivan Toney
Joel Byrom
Ricky Holmes
Ryan Cresswell
Sam Warburton
Danny Clifton
PLAYERS UNDER CONTRACT WHO HAVE BEEN MADE AVAILABLE FOR TRANSFER
John-Joe O'Toole
Chris Hackett
PLAYERS WHO ARE OUT OF CONTRACT AND NO DECISION HAS YET BEEN MADE
Shwan Jalal
PLAYERS WHO ARE OUT OF CONTRACT BUT DISCUSSIONS WILL BE HELD SUBJECT TO FITNESS
Billy Bodin
Tom Newey
PLAYERS NOT UNDER CONTRACT WHO WON'T BE OFFERED NEW TERMS
Matt Duke
Darren Carter
Lee Collins
Ben Tozer
Lewis Hornby
Ross Perry
Ian Morris
LOAN PLAYERS WHO RETURN TO THEIR PARENT CLUBS
James Gray
Diego De Girolamo
Kaid Mohamed
“It’s a tough part of the job for any manager but we have to make professional decisions to take the club forward," said Chris Wilder.
“You have to make decisions as a manager and we thank all the players for their efforts. They’ve been good for me and I think we as a club have been good to them.
“Matt Duke wants to play first team football and I can’t guarantee him that.
“Matt has had a really good career but we want to bring in a younger goalkeeper and we are looking at possibly bringing in someone on a season-long loan.
“Shwan Jalal remains a possibility. We've not made any decision on Shwan yet and we will see where we are later in the summer. We've got a budget to work with and it's about making sure we get the maximum we can out of that budget.
“Lee Collins has been arguably the most difficult decision we’ve had to make.
“It was a real borderline decision right up to this last week but we’ve decided not to offer him a contract.
“We’ve got two centre halves in Ryan Cresswell and Zander Diamond on three-year deals who we expect to play and we are looking at bringing in another natural left-footer to complement them and challenge them.
“Darren Carter hasn’t really played any football all season and he wants to play.
“Ben Tozer is on an excellent contract and he deserved that under the previous manager.
“He hasn’t been able to get into the team because of the form of Brendon and I can’t afford to carry two right-backs on the wages that they are on.
“It’s been a struggle for John-Joe O'Toole this season. He’s not been able to recapture the form he showed at Bristol Rovers and the form which we signed him on.
“From the off he didn’t really get out of the traps, he had a couple of injuries and it’s not been a great season for him and it’s not been a great season for us in terms of what we’ve got out of him.
“We changed our way of playing going into the New Year and the form of Lawson D'Ath and Ricky Holmes has made it difficult for Chris Hackett to get into the team.
“Chris hasn’t played a lot of football and again he is at an age where he wants and needs to play.
"Ian Morris has made the decision to return to Ireland with his family and we wish him well.
“We are already in discussions with our targets and we want to get our business done early.
“We will look at the loan market but I’m not a big lover of short-term loans and if we do bring players in on loan it will be for the season or from window to window."
We will bring you more details through the coming week and further reaction from Chris Wilder.