"There's discussions ongoing" - Town boss Millington keen to avoid another summer exodus at The Shay

Town lost several key players during the summer, including top-scorer Billy Waters, defensive duo Tom Bradbury and Niall Maher, as well as Ty Warren and Kieran Green.

That required a major squad rebuild from Millington, who has one eye on the long-term.

"There's been conversations between myself and the chairman about how we strengthen the future of the club and try to avoid a summer like we just had," he said.

"There's discussions ongoing about who and how we try to nail down to protect the medium-term future of the club, looking two or three seasons ahead.

"We're desperate to have a real stable strategy in place that protects our playing style and what we want to do on the pitch for the upcoming seasons.

"So we're looking two and three years down the line.

"As I've learned quite early on in my managerial career, I've got to pay every attention to what's going on in the short-term and the upcoming opposition, and that's where the majority of our focus is.

"But what I really love about the job and what I love about the club is that we've got the ability, the stability and the consistency to be able to plan long-term, and part of that strategy is making sure that we have a playing staff that allows us to remain consistent.

"If we can keep maintaining 70-75 per cent of the squad every summer and we're not being obliterated and losing 50-60 per cent of the squad, then we'll put ourselves in a really excellent position to keep building and moving forward year on year.

"It's my ambition to avoid any kind of situation like we experienced this summer, where there was a high turnover of players, especially important players and important characters."

The Shaymen resisted all offers for players in this year's January transfer window, and Millington says he isn't aware of any on the horizon as yet.

"At the moment we've no knowledge of any impending interest or offers, so we've no real concern on that front," he said.

"But we certainly feel we've got a good squad depth at the moment, we've got players who are outperforming our expectations of where they'd be at this stage of the season.

"Some of the younger lads have outperformed where we'd expect them to be at this stage.

"So we feel like we're in a fairly strong position.

"Clearly, as and when any interest comes in we'll follow the usual process of dealing with that interest as we always do and hopefully it doesn't disrupt our current form too much."

It doesn't sound like anyone will be heading into the club any time soon either, according to the Town boss.

"We've not got anyone lined up at the moment and with the squad being virtually back to full strength, we're back to that position where we feel that it has to be a really strong signing to come in and impact the group immediately for us to be interested," Millington said.

"Having said that, we will continue to look at where we need to strengthen and how we might reform parts of the squad going into the second-half of the season, once we've got our 23rd game out of the way."

Millington's own contract is set to run out next summer, but so far no discussions have taken place over an extension.

"No, we've not got to that stage yet and that's not something that really concerns me," he said.

"Whether I've got a ten-year deal or a one-year deal, all I'm interested in is making sure I do my very best for the club while I'm here and while I've got the responsibility.

"People around the club know me well enough by now to know that when I'm in, I'm all in and I will be absolutely fully committed as long as my services are required."