Five set to depart Barrow after title triumph

[FF News]

Goalkeeper Tony McMillan is among the first casualties of Barrow AFC’s title triumph as he will not be offered a new deal by the club.

Striker James Ellison, defensive duo Robbie Williams and Liam Willis, plus midfielder Ted Cribley will also not be handed fresh terms after falling out of contract – with the quartet having completed loan spells away from Holker Street this season.

McMillan was Barrow’s regular number one keeper this term until the back end of January – when he lost his place to Aaran Taylor, who started all but three of the final 16 games of the campaign.

Having serving AFC well over the past two seasons, McMillan has walked out of the exit door along with his four fellow out-of-contract team-mates.

After Barrow clinched automatic promotion back to the Conference at the weekend, boss Darren Edmondson is now faced with the task of creating a squad that is capable of competing well in non-league’s top-flight.

The majority of his 2014/15 squad are out of contract this summer, with players hunting new deals understood to include Taylor, Alex-Ray Harvey, Dan Pilkington, Niall Cowperthwaite, Andy Burns, Sam Sheridan, Lewis Guy and Karl Ledsham.

They should learn their fate soon and the manager says he will not conduct any business in the transfer market until he has spoken to his contract hopefuls about their respective futures.

Edmondson said: “Between now and next Monday we should have sat down and spoken with all of our players.

“And then we’ll roughly know what we need and where we’re going to go with it.

“We’ve probably already highlighted players (potential external targets) who we feel we might need.”

The club are obliged to offer wanted players new terms by May 9 – a week on Saturday – before those affected are given around a month to mull over the deals on the table.

Edmondson indicated that he has gone some way to making decisions about his retained list, but it would seem to remain a fluid situation in some cases.

Commenting on the task of deciding who to keep, he added: “Again, that will depend on what becomes available within the next fortnight also.

“We have a window where we have to let players know.

“So that gives you a little bit of time to see what comes out from other football clubs as well.

“The grass is not always greener, but there will be lots of players available this year.

“So it would be wrong of me as a manager if I didn’t just keep my options open with regards to the amount of players we can bring in because there are so many good players available this year.”

Source: www.nwemail.co.uk

 

Source