Nigel Clough, the manager of Mansfield Town, has released additional information regarding the Stags’ retained list subsequent to the end of the 2023–24 season.
Stags were promoted to Sky Bet League One after finishing third in the campaign.
The manager disclosed that a number of first team players, who are essentially without contracts at this point, are in talks to sign new agreements.
After deciding on the retained list, Nigel said in an interview with iFollow Stags: “With the majority of the boys, we were happy with their contract situation going into the end of the season.”
“The majority of them have contracts.
“We are currently in communication and negotiation with those who are currently out.” That, in my opinion, includes James Gale, Lucas Akins, Ollie Clarke, George Maris, Stephen McLaughlin, and Stephen Quinn.
“Three of our contracts are up: Callum Johnson, whose injuries have sadly prevented us from making an offer, Anthony Hartigan, who was also on loan at Barnet, and John-Joe O’Toole, who has obviously been out on loan at AFC Wimbledon.
“We’re speaking with the remaining individuals who aren’t bound by contracts, and those are the three who will be released.”
Regarding how soon he anticipates the players’ contract negotiations to conclude, the manager continued, “I think [we’ll know] reasonably quickly we would hope.”
It is not surprising, I believe, that everyone wants to stay.
“We had a great discussion about the direction for the upcoming season during our meeting with the owners yesterday.
“Everyone wants to succeed as much as they can, but we all agreed that the best way to achieve stability and success is to keep the group together as much as possible and bring in five or six quality players for the upcoming season.
“More than anything, we want to keep the spirit and camaraderie that have brought us this far. The boys deserve the chance to show off their abilities in League One.
“That is the future plan.”
Speaking after the Mansfield team’s promotion against Accrington Stanley last month, midfielder Stephen Quinn stated he was still unsure about his future.
“I spoke with him [Stephen Quinn] at first,” the gaffer recalled.
“The boys will re-connect when they return from their few-day trip.
“He expressed how much he loves it, and it’s evident in every play and workout.
He’s thinking about trying it again for a different season, but I’ll talk to him again this week.
Last week, Scott Flinders and Jordan Bowery inked new contracts.
Really, [they’re] no-brainers,” Nigel remarked.
“We’ve expressed our satisfaction with the goalkeeping department from the beginning.
“It’s a great strength to have Christy [Pym] as our first option and Scott as a backup who we can call upon at any time without worrying.”
“After that, we have two promising young goalkeepers on the horizon: Anthony Núñez, who signed with the team in January and is currently on loan at Wexford, and Owen Mason, who is expected to make his professional debut next year.
“The only person who loses out is Louie Turner. He must regularly go outside and play.
The only person in that group who loses out is him, but we’re satisfied with that department nonetheless.
“This season, Jordan [Bowery] has played in about forty games for us. Having someone like that is vitally important when you do sustain the kind of injuries we tend to get here.
“In the final few games of the season, I believe he performed better at center-half than he did at full-back. He performed incredibly well.
“It is very important to have someone who can cover every position on the pitch.”
The manager continued by talking about plans to add people.
“Securing the five or six new players is more important than doing a lot of work.
In terms of numbers We’re going to be a little heavier than usual, but given the injuries coming into League One, I think that makes sense going into the new season.
“I think they’ll want to go out and play if we can’t get one or two of these guys into the squad; we know they’re good players.”
Nigel concluded by providing an update on the team’s plans to bring back defender Lewis Brunt.
Lewis Brunt is one of them [possible additions] that we would love to take, so we are beginning talks with Leicester about that.
We would just like to keep him, either permanently or on loan.
We need to talk to Leicester about things like that.
“They currently have their own business to attend to, including promotion celebrations and everything, so we’re not sure how soon that will happen.
“With a striker, we’re definitely “down the road,” and we’re also keeping an eye out for a midfielder and a left back.
“We’ll continue [with that] over the coming weeks.”
