Pitchero Non League

Alan Devonshire

....of interest shown by rival clubs in his players.

Having finished their season with a 5-1 defeat at Wrexham last weekend, the Iron boss is now building his squad for next year’s Blue Square Bet Premier campaign.

Captain Kenny Davis, striker Sean Marks and goalkeeper Nathan McDonald have all been quick to pen new deals to keep them at the club next season and Devonshire said he is keen to tie others down as well.

He said no-one has told him they won’t be signing and the Braintree manager said he has had no contact from other clubs or managers looking to make approaches for his players.

He did lose Andy Yiadom to Barnet in January, but the lack of interest has been unexpected given the team’s superb form in their first season in the top tier of non-League football.

Devonshire said: “I can categorically say that I haven’t had one call from anyone about any of my players.

“Not from another manager or another club. “To be fair, I’m surprised by that.

“But it’s our first season at this level and maybe people are waiting to see if the players can do it again next year.

“I don’t know, but I have not had one call over the whole season.

“I would like to keep the squad together and they don’t all have to be on contracts, but I’ll keep talking to them until they sign forms.

“I’m hoping to get a couple more sorted in the next few weeks, but we may have to wait until pre-season to get the squad really finalised.

“I know some are waiting on things, which I understand, but I haven’t had any inkling at this time that any of them will be leaving.

“No-one has said to me that they want to leave the club and no-one has turned down an offer put to them.”

And Devonshire is also working hard to augment his squad with fresh additions now that the season has finished.

He added: “I’ll be looking at a lot of games and I’ll be taking in the play-off games, so we shall see.

“I have a couple of targets who I would like to get and it will be great if they come to fruition.

“I have space for about four or five in the squad.

“There’s two or three who I’m looking at and then there will be a couple of spaces for people who come in during pre-season.”

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