Saints have five of their current squad out of contract this summer, so Nigel Adkins has some difficult decisions to make with the prospect of telling some that the Premier League is still as far away from their reach as before.
Perhaps the biggest decision will be David Connolly, or will it ? Connolly made 26 appearances for Saints last season scoring six goals, but four of them were in the opening five games of the season with the last coming mid January up at Forest, once again Connolly spent a lot of time injured and with the arrival of both Sharp and Lee found his chances limited in the final stages, add this to the fact that he will be 35 in June and the fact that due to injury he has only managed 34 starts and 27 as sub in three years and it could be that Connolly will be thanked for his services in the summer and let go.
Next big decision is Bart Bialkowski and this could perhaps signal the Club's intentions with regard to the goalkeeping slot next season, if the Polish keeper is released it could be bad news for Kelvin, in that it could signify a big name keeper coming in, Bart only played one game in the league last season, that against Blackpool and it was a bit of a nightmare for him, but over the years he has had some good games for this club and been a loyal servant, in 2007 he came in and rescued our promotion bid as Kelvin fell to pieces, our now number 1's return to favour after two years when he was poor, perhaps give Bart some hope, I feel if we stick with Kelvin then Bart may be good enough to deputise whilst we see if Kelvin can hack it, if we let Bart go it could signify higher intentions.
Radhi Jaidi is next up, this is perhaps the easiest of the five, he did not play one game last season after being injured and turning 37 in August, it seems a step too far for him and a chance for him to find another club and a final swansong early in the summer.
Lee Holmes too looks likely to be leaving the club, despite never letting the side down whenever called upon, it seemed that Nigel Adkins didnt really rate him and he wasnt given a decent opportunity to plug that troublesome right midfield area, even as others put in some dire performances, his four years at the club were blighted by one injury after another meaning he played in less than a fifth of the games he could have, there will be no shortage of takers with perhaps Swindon being in the forefront where he finished the season on loan.
Last up is Ryan Doble, although a player with promise, it seems that he cant seem to turn that promise into something a bit more tangible, at 21 years old he has only played one first team game, that in an FA Cup tie this season at Coventry, his various loan spells have not been prolific either and he perhaps suffers from the fact his best position hasnt really been decided, is he a midfielder or a striker, with Saints in the Premier and already having a big squad that needs to be both trimmed and improved, it could be that Doble will be very much out of the picture if he was to stay and therefore the Club will let him go.
Saints have to put in their retained list by the third Saturday of May which this year is the 19th
These five look set to be the first to depart from St Mary's, given the size of our squad and the need to improve it they wont be the last.