Manager on the contracts offered to players
Manager Greg Abbott confirmed today that it is now a waiting game as the five players offered new deals at the club – Danny Livesey, Lee Miller, Matt Robson, Paul Thirlwell and Josh Todd – consider their options ahead of making their decisions on whether or not they will stay at Brunton Park.
“The players get a period of time to consider their offers, in-line with Football League rules,” he said.
“You generally don’t hear anything at all for the first seven to ten days. They read over it, and their agents do the same, and they’ll start to come to a decision from there.”
“I’ve had one or two phone calls from a couple of them to suggest that things will be fine, but that can change,” he added. “We just have to wait and see. It’s a frustrating time for everybody but all we can do is wait until there is something concrete to report.”
“I’m hopeful they will all sign,” he confirmed. “As soon as we know anything for definite we’ll let everybody know. From that we’ll know where we’re going with it all.
“There is a respect both ways and we haven’t had any definite 'no' replies from any of them. It’s one where no news is probably good news and hopefully we’ll wrap some of it up sooner rather than later.”
On the players released, he said: “None of the decisions were taken lightly.
“Financially we need the club to run at a certain level, so that comes into it, and we think we need to add some pace and energy to the squad. There are all sorts of things which have to be considered and, once that’s done, the key is to then bring the players in to help you to compete.”
“We have to make tough decisions which we hope will be the right ones for the club from time to time,” he told us. “Some of the players who have gone are bound to be upset because they wanted to continue their careers here.
“We believe we get a lot of these decisions right, but it’s a day I don’t like. I have no problem in doing it, because that’s the job, but that doesn’t mean I’m ever going to like it.
“We genuinely wish them all the very best. We hope they get things fixed up quickly and that they push on with their careers.”
