"It's a very strong offer" - Shaymen boss Millington on the future of Town's out-of-contract players

Both are players that The Shaymen want to keep, but they appear to be attracting interest from elsewhere and it remains to be seen where they will end up.

"Both are exploring their options at the moment," Millington said.

"Harvey's been very clear with us about what he's looking for and who he's talking to.

"His situation will come to a head sooner because he's very clear on what he's looking for if he does choose to move.

"Jack's is a little bit more unclear. I think we made our first offer to Jack back in March and we made our final offer a couple of weeks ago, which does represent a hugely significant increase in pay.

"It's a very strong offer so we'd like that one to come to a head sooner rather than later but at the moment, we can't seem to find out what is driving the decision and when the decision's going to be made, so we're a bit in limbo on that.

"But we've got plenty of other people we're speaking to at the moment who would come in as replacements, so we're out there actively talking to people who, if decisions aren't made soon, could come in."

On goalkeepers Sam Johnson and Tom Scott, who are also out-of-contract, Millington said: "One much more further advanced than the other, the other one we've just got a couple of things to confirm that would be of benefit to the player going forward.

"But with Sam, very well advanced."

Millington says an offer has been agreed to keep defender Festus Arthur at the club.

"He's clearly got a long-term injury but he's a fantastic young man and the injury sustained was in service of the club so we wanted to make sure he was looked after to some degree from that point of view," said the Town boss.

"But also going forward, we believe he can contribute to trying to help us get promoted.

"So there's an agreement in place and paperwork being drawn up."

Arthur missed the FA Trophy final at Wembley with an Achilles injury.

"The medics say it'll be the turn of the year," said Millington on a possible return date.

"If you ask Festus, he thinks he'll be back in November so let's hope he's right!"

Jesse Debrah and Kian Spence still appear likely to leave the club this summer.

"We've no hard and fast information on where they'll be going, certainly not accepted the offers that have gone out to them from us," Millington said.

"If I had to put money on it, I'd expect them to be elsewhere come next season but we don't know that for sure yet."

The Town boss was was due to speak to striker Mani Dieseruvwe about his future.

Midfielder Luke Summerfield's new contract has been agreed, while another out-of-contract player has also agreed a new deal but that will be signed when they return from holiday.

"Some of those lads we were anticipating would be just starting out as regular National League starters now," Millington said of the players on the club's retained list, "but we're very lucky for them to have gained such a lot of experience in the season just gone.

"Now they start from a higher level of experience of the league and we all know what they can bring to the table.

"So we're very fortunate to have those.

"Given the stage of the season we're at, I look at the list and my immediate concern is losing them at the end of next season, so we've got to make sure that those that excel in the early part of the season, we nail down on longer-term contracts because there's some really fantastic young talent there and we want them to be Shaymen as long as possible."

Millington says there's a more focused, targeted approach to recruitment this summer, but added it is vital Town hang onto as many of their current squad as possible.

"We're very confident on what we're looking to bring in," he said.

"The only question mark that arises at the moment is the players who we're trying to re-engage from last season who are out-of-contract.

"If we do lose them, the challenge is that we've then got to find players of good character and good experience who also fit into what we're trying to do from a football perspective.

"That's why we've got to try and retain players from the club for longer going forward, rather than having them for a season or two and then seeing them move on.

"We need to make sure that the good characters and the hard workers, those who are committed to playing for Halifax Town, are retained for longer.

"As soon as they're out-of-contract, the bigger fish with the bigger money tend to turn heads and it becomes very difficult for players who are out-of-contract to turn those opportunities down, even though they may want to stay at Halifax."

Millington added: "We're going to lose some important players, there's conversations going on with players who we want to agree right now but we've got to be realistic and say we're probably not going to get all of the players who are out-of-contract back at The Shay.

"As much as I'm an optimist and we'll do everything as a club to make that happen, other clubs will be fighting just as hard to take them away from us.

"We've got to be realistic, we are going to lose some, but we start from a better base where we've got a really good core group of players who, if we were to start a National League game next week, would be an excellent starting 11 to compete with anyone in the division.

"That certainly puts us ahead of where we were this time last year.

"We know where we need to fill the gaps in the squad to make sure we're better.

"Compared to this time last year, we're in a very different place."

Town are expected to announce three more pre-season friendlies to add to games at Curzon Ashton, Radcliffe Borough and Glossop.

"We wouldn't rule out another one if we need to bulk up the games to have a look at triallists or give players extra minutes," said Millington.

"But clearly we're not going to be able to play any at The Shay because of protecting the pitch."

Millington says 3-4-3 will be the team's preferred system heading into the new season.

"That'll be the system we look to begin the season with," he confirmed.

"We want to be a team that can flip between a couple of systems - 4-3-3 is the preferred other system.

When we're looking at bringing players in, we've got a mind of them floating between those two systems and how they'd fit into them.

"If they can't fit into both, then they're not players we'd look to follow up."