Deadline day for Blackpool retained list

Every club in League One has to provide a list of out-of-contract players they plan to release and those they wish to retain.

The deadline for doing so was May 15 for most clubs but the Seasiders didn’t have to submit their list until four days after the play-off final.

Critchley, his staff and the club hierarchy have some big decisions on the contractual front, with a host of deals set to expire.

When asked about the retained list last week, prior to the play-off final, Critchley told The Gazette: “It’s not easy, of course it’s not. But that’s the job and that’s what you have to do.

“We shall be having discussions this week about that because we don’t want to do it after the game on Sunday. We shall prepare, we shall be ready for that, but we obviously have to wait to see what division we’re in first.

“It was difficult last season because I had to do some of those conversations via Zoom and on a laptop, which was equally difficult.

“I’m hoping that will be slightly different this time but it’s four days after Sunday (when we have to submit the list).

“A strength we’ve got here is that we’re good at preparing and planning, so we’re already planning for next season because it will be on us very quickly.”

The contracts of Alex Fojticek, Stuart Moore, Jack Sims, James Husband, Ollie Turton, Luke Garbutt, Cameron Antwi, Ben Garrity, Nathan Shaw, Grant Ward, Liam Feeney, Sullay Kaikai, Adi Yussuf and Gary Madine all expire this summer.

The Seasiders hold the option to extend the deals of Fojticek, Husband, Antwi, Garrity, Ward, Shaw, Kaikai and Yussuf.

When asked if decisions had already been made, Critchley added last week: “No. We’ve had discussions, but because so much has been going on and the games we’ve had, the final decisions haven’t been made yet.

“Part of that might be about finding out which division we’re in next season because that can have a big bearing on budgets and things like that.

“They haven’t been finalised yet but the discussions have been taking place.”

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