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CHELTENHAM Town manager Michael Duff has told some members of his squad that they have no future at the club.
Duff has eight players out of contract and 15 with deals for next season and beyond - but some already know they are surplus to requirements.
He has had meetings with all the players - including the Under-18s who have come to the end of their scholarships, and said: “Some will be deciding on what there future is and some have been told there won’t be a future for them here.
“That’s the tough part of the job. It’s not personal.
“There are people you are letting go that you really like.
“But whether it’s a footballing decision or a financial decision and we keep talking about the constraints of where we are, sometimes the decision is taken out of our hands.
“That’s the difficult bit, letting people go that you like but we live in a ruthless world and there is no room for sentiment.”
Duff has admitted that he may lose some players he wanted to keep in the next few weeks and then he can turn to bringing in new faces.
“We are not really speaking to anyone else yet because we don’t know what we are looking for,” he said.
“Until we know, which we probably will do in two weeks, who is staying and who is not, there will be no decisions to be made.
“Contracts are on the table for a length of time and then they’ll be taken away, then we need to start putting a matrix together.
“In a couple of weeks, if the contracts haven’t been signed, it might still be there, but it might not be the same contract.
“We can’t be pawns to players, using us as a negotiation block for the next eight weeks and if they can’t get anything else they’ll sign.
“We can’t have that as a club and be bullied like that.
“We feel we’ve made fair offers to players for where we are at.
“I genuinely don’t think we have any idiots in the dressing room, and if they
make a decision and they get a better offer elsewhere, absolutely fine.
“I respect what they’ve done for me over the last six months. If not, they’ll come back next season and I look forward to working with them.”
Some contracted players have been out on loan, or out of the first-team picture, and Duff admitted they could leave the club.
“You can’t force people out of the door,” he said. “But people have been told, if they don’t feature, they won’t play.
“They can hang around for a year next year if they want to and we can’t force them out of the door, but they won’t get any football.
“That’s the tough side of the game. It’s not personal, it’s a football decision.
“It’s then over to the player to decide what they want to do. They either find another club, or sit here and see their money out.”