FC Halifax Town: “We’ve spoken to all the players” - Wild keen to get two or three players signed up before announcing retained list

Midfielders Danny Williams and Reuben Noble-Lazarus have left the club since the end of the season, but it is thought that leaves 11 other players whose deals are up with their futures still to be resolved.

“We’ve spoken to all the players, I know there’ll be a bit of frustration about why it’s (retained list) not come out yet, but we just want to get two or three players nailed down onto deals before we start making it public where player’s contracts are up to,” Wild said.

“I understand people’s frustration but you have to understand as well, the moment we make that live, the cattle market starts for our players, and we’re in a position where we have to be a bit coy about things so we don’t lose our prized assets.

“So that’s why there’s a bit of a delay about that, but we hope to have it out as quickly as possible.”

When asked if he thought the retained list would be announced at some point this week, Wild said: “We’d like to think so yeah, like I say, people have been spoken to and they’ve been made offers, but we’d like to get a couple of them nailed down before we start making our business public.”

On whether there would be further departures after Williams and Noble-Lazarus left the club, Wild said: “There may be a couple of others, just with the nature of offers they may get from other clubs, and we have to appreciate where we are in the market, we’ve got what we’ve got.

“If players get better offers, like last year, and offers we can’t compete with, then we have to hold our hands up, shake their hands and look for the next one.

“So there may be a couple of them but we’re quite confident we’re going to keep as many as possible.”

Read more from Wild in Thursday’s Halifax Courier.