Terry McPhillips reveals when Blackpool's retained list is likely to be announced

With League One sides gearing up for their final games of the season on Saturday, it is the time of the year when decisions are made over which players will be kept and which ones will be let go.

The Seasiders currently have five players out of contract in Myles Boney, Donervon Daniels, Nathan Delfouneso, Chris Long and Jimmy Ryan.

A number of other players' deals end this summer although the club do hold options to extend them by a further 12 months.

McPhillips, when asked when fans can expect to hear news on the club's decisions, says there's likely to be developments next week.

“We’ve had a meeting on Thursday and we’ll have a meeting again on Tuesday and review things," the Pool boss said. "I think it will be next week (when the retained list is announced).

“We’ve also got some targets we want to bring in so the work has already begun on that.

“I think we’ve got a real good core, a nucleus of players that are probably stronger than we have been for the last couple of years.

“I think we lost maybe five players who we wanted to keep last year but I don’t think that’s going to be the case now.

“Hopefully we’ll be stronger and sign one or two more to make us stronger again."

When asked if he expects to see interest in some of the club's key contracted players, McPhillips said: “You want to start with the best squad possible you can, but we know it’s football and every player has got their price.

“If we have got people coming in for our players it can only bode well for us.

“But if we can keep the nucleus, build on it then it’s exciting times ahead.”

McPhillips is unlikely to have a large budget at his disposal at the start of the transfer window, but of course this could all change as and when a new owner arrives at the club.

“It’s not really finalised yet but there’s the prospect of the new owners coming in," McPhillips added.

“We’re pretty much working off what we’ve been doing and then we’ll see when the new owners come in and see what happens after that.

“I think it’s a shame the new owners aren’t already in, that would have been great wouldn’t it?

“But that’s not to be so we just crack on with what we’ve got and plan, as we are doing, and hopefully the new owners come in and we can add a bit more.”