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Ian Evatt says he has already made up his mind which players will not be offered new deal at Wanderers this summer.
A total of 18 players are believed to be out of contract at the UniBol, although there has already been some confirmation from within the club that Alex Baptiste, Gethin Jones, Finlay Lockett and Matt Gilks are to get extended deals.
Senior stars such as Ryan Delaney, Jak Hickman, Jamie Mascoll, Andrew Tutte, Shaun Miller, Harry Brockbank, Lloyd Isgrove, Arthur Gnahoua and Muhammadu Faal, plus youngsters Adam Senior, Sonny Graham, Callum King-Harmes, Matty Alexander and Bright Amoateng are also in the final year of their existing contract.
Bolton boss Evatt admits he is not relishing the prospect of breaking news to some of his players that their time at Bolton has come to an end.
“Fundamentally they are all good lads and this is their job, their occupation,” he said. “As much as we all love football we all have to earn money to provide for our families and when you are potentially taking that away from someone it is never nice. I’ll take no enjoyment out of it, in fact I will probably be quite emotional.
“But it has to be done and it’s my job to do it. Sentiment in football gets you nowhere. It’s about the next goal and how we get there.
“We are down that process now. I have made decisions that are difficult but we will talk through them on Monday and hopefully the players will understand.”
Evatt used 35 different players last season and brought 25 new signings to the club in total, including Baptiste for a second spell.
This summer looks unlikely to be as busy as Wanderers look to build on the promotion platform they have built. But while keeping together the core group which got out of League Two is a priority, Evatt is unwilling to allow the club to stand still, even if it means releasing some of the players who have served him so well.
“These conversations are never nice. It’s the worst part of my job, really. But they need to be had,” he said.
“We have had a successful season but there are big decisions to be made. “I will be speaking to the lads, same as I do every season. We will have an individual meeting and debrief with them on Monday where I’ll speak about the future and how this season has gone, strengths and weaknesses, where we need to improve.
“We will have a clearer picture then of what we have got, moving forwards.”
Source
A total of 18 players are believed to be out of contract at the UniBol, although there has already been some confirmation from within the club that Alex Baptiste, Gethin Jones, Finlay Lockett and Matt Gilks are to get extended deals.
Senior stars such as Ryan Delaney, Jak Hickman, Jamie Mascoll, Andrew Tutte, Shaun Miller, Harry Brockbank, Lloyd Isgrove, Arthur Gnahoua and Muhammadu Faal, plus youngsters Adam Senior, Sonny Graham, Callum King-Harmes, Matty Alexander and Bright Amoateng are also in the final year of their existing contract.
Bolton boss Evatt admits he is not relishing the prospect of breaking news to some of his players that their time at Bolton has come to an end.
“Fundamentally they are all good lads and this is their job, their occupation,” he said. “As much as we all love football we all have to earn money to provide for our families and when you are potentially taking that away from someone it is never nice. I’ll take no enjoyment out of it, in fact I will probably be quite emotional.
“But it has to be done and it’s my job to do it. Sentiment in football gets you nowhere. It’s about the next goal and how we get there.
“We are down that process now. I have made decisions that are difficult but we will talk through them on Monday and hopefully the players will understand.”
Evatt used 35 different players last season and brought 25 new signings to the club in total, including Baptiste for a second spell.
This summer looks unlikely to be as busy as Wanderers look to build on the promotion platform they have built. But while keeping together the core group which got out of League Two is a priority, Evatt is unwilling to allow the club to stand still, even if it means releasing some of the players who have served him so well.
“These conversations are never nice. It’s the worst part of my job, really. But they need to be had,” he said.
“We have had a successful season but there are big decisions to be made. “I will be speaking to the lads, same as I do every season. We will have an individual meeting and debrief with them on Monday where I’ll speak about the future and how this season has gone, strengths and weaknesses, where we need to improve.
“We will have a clearer picture then of what we have got, moving forwards.”
Source