Revealed: The deadline for Blackpool to make contract decisions on Ollie Turton, Sullay Kaikai, Gary Madine and others

Each season, every club in League One has to submit the list of players they plan to release and those who they wish to retain by a set deadline.

For the 2020/21 season, that deadline passed yesterday (Saturday, May 15) – with the vast majority of League One clubs having already indicated who they will be allowing to leave this summer.

However, Blackpool and their play-off rivals have been given additional time to make their decisions.

With their divisional status still uncertain, Neil Critchley won’t have to make any contractual decisions until four days after the club’s final game of the season.

If the Seasiders were to exit the play-offs at the semi-final stage, then all contract decisions would have to be communicated to the EFL by May 25. Were the side to reach the final, then they would have until June 3 to submit their released and retained lists.

It’s important to note a couple of things on this front, however.

Firstly, contracts do not have to be signed and sealed by this date. Blackpool simply need to indicate which players they will be offering new terms to, and then negotiations over the contract can continue for as long as is required.

And secondly, the club themselves can publicly release their retained and released lists whenever they choose. This deadline is simply for when the lists have to be submitted to the EFL.

Critchley, his staff and the club hierarchy are going to have some big decisions to make on the contractual front this summer, with a host of players contracts set to expire.

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, Brad Holmes, Adi Yussuf and Gary Madine also expire this summer.

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

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