The swift rise up the leagues has had one drawback and that is that some of our loyal players from League One and the Championship have been stranded in limbo.

Players contracts usually include bonus's for success and this would also encompass guaranteed basic salary increases etc as promotion is achieved, the down side of this is that for some they are never going to make the leap between say League One and the Premier, but on the other hand they will be on wages that they can never hope to match should they move away from the club.

So the dilemma for the likes of Jonathan Forte or Lee Barnard has been do they move on for the good of their career or do they sit out 3 years of a contract in which they will probably earn 3-4 times what they can achieve elsewhere and make themselves finacially secure.

Now I dont blame them for sitting tight, Lee Barnard for instance when he damaged his ankle in the closing stages of our promotion season from League One would have realised then what a precarious career a lower league footballer is, the injury kept him out and he never got a real chance to prove himself in the Championship.

So no one should berate these players for staying put taking the money and hoping that they can get out on loan, they should be thanked for their contributions a few years back, without them we would perhaps not be in the position we are today.

from our time in League One three players are out of contract in the summer, Guly is perhaps the highest profile of the trio with Lee Barnard and Jonathan Forte being the other two, Guly being 32 is perhaps not likely to be offered an extension to his deal, at times he has been the scapegoat of the crowd and perhaps he isnt quite up to Premier League standard now, but he has been a good servant, got some vital goals in League One and the Championship and this is perhaps the right time for a parting of the ways and he should go with the best wishes of every supporter.

Lee Barnard and Jonathan Forte are no brainers, although Barnard played a few Championship games after his return from injury by then Saints had other options and this weekend will see the 2nd anniversary of his last appearance in a Saints shirt.

For Jonathan Forte its even longer he hasnt played at all this season and like Baranrd although he played the odd Championship game he hasnt featured since the defeat to Brighton on 2nd January 2012.

Cody Cropper the American goalkeeper is also coming to the end of his deal in the summer, at 21 he is at the crossroads, he has not played a League game for any club and Saints have to decide whether he has more potential than Paulo Gazzaniga, I would think that sadly for Cropper the answer is no, perhaps he is one that should have been on loan at some point this season.

One man who is not out of contract but who will also possibly depart is Billy Sharp whose deal runs out in 2015, Saints will probably look to cash in on him and with a year left Sharp can perhaps now afford to take a drop in wages for the security of a long term deal elsewhere.

Similarly there are several other squad members who will come into the last year of their deal in the summer, Jos Hooiveld and Yoshida are two of them and it wouldn't surprise me to see both of them move on to clear the decks for new arrivals, likewise Jack Cork, Jose Fonte & Artur Boruc and I would think the club would be looking to sign them to new deals asap.

Two youngsters with a year to run are Sam Gallagher and Harrison Reed, in the case of Gallagher I think Saints will be looking to sign him up, but with his recent bereavement the time hasn't been right, Reed is another matter, although a promising youngster he will be 20 during next season and he hasnt really pushed himself near to the premier League squad as perhaps he should have done, this being the case Saints might well not offer him a deal in the summer but look to how next season progresses, it is a risk but sometimes you have to let good players go.

Last but not least is Osvaldo, there are many reasons why this hasn't worked out, indeed why it never had a chance too and they are not all Osvaldo's fault, but I think there will be a parting of the way's

All in all Saints now have a chance to free up a few places in the squad for new arrivals, the squad has a solid foundation, however we are still short in some areas, if we can keep it together and bring in 2 or 3 truly quality arrivals, one of which could be funded by the sale of Osvaldo.

Photo: Action Images

saintwizzler added 10:13 - Mar 26 #prayforCody
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saintwizzler added 10:13 - Mar 26 #prayforCody
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davidhosey added 10:21 - Mar 26 Good article Nick. You are being very decent to Guly and I agree with you.. good luck and thanks. Also the same to Barnard. When he came I thought he was a real trier giving it all he had to chase balls down. My worry with all the paper talk is who we will lose. What are your gut feelings about who will be sold ??
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StEdmund added 10:30 - Mar 26 If Shaw is keen to go to Chelsea (as the media tells us that half of the team will be leaving) do you think we could get Lukaku in part-exchange?
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Boris1977 added 10:38 - Mar 26 Great stuff as ever - as you say Guly scored so many important goals in getting us promoted and that should never be forgotten - he's been awesome in terms of being a team player and has personified the postitive attitude at our club. Special mention to Forte for his two goals in the 3-2 league against MK Dons on the way out of league 1 - at 2-0 down that could have been a massive phychological blow in chasing promotion.

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SaintNick added 11:34 - Mar 26 I think we will hanng on to most of our players, the media reports that Shaw is desperate to go to Chelsea are possibly agents talk to try and leverage a deal as Saints are playing hard ball. If a club is willing to sell a player then that player doesnt usually need to go to the press and spread rumour etc I think we also have to accept that every player has his price, if we can get £30 million for Shaw say, would that improve the team if we spent it wisely

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schatfield added 13:08 - Mar 26 Great article Nick I think this may the summer when Chelsea finally get Shaw for a ridiculous amount of cash, so that's a position that needs filling then...would love to get Lukaku in part ex. I dont think we will get any cash for Sharp, he is now at Doncaster (no money) and cant see any other champo teams coming in for him. Probably go on a freebie...
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Jesus_02 added 16:00 - Mar 26 While we still don’t “need” to sell to invest, I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t at least one high profile exit. Perhaps the most vulnerable position is Jack Corks. With only a year left on his contract offers might be hard to turn down if he is keen on a move. I always felt that he would get games regardless of Wanyama and for me our centre midfield is not going to be improved unless we spend big. I may be wildly wrong but I don’t see Shaw moving next season. I just don’t think clubs will agree a fee.

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SalisburySaint added 16:19 - Mar 26 good article Nick as you say Guly played vital part in our pormotions Most notably the only goal in our 1-0 win against Bristol Rovers in the last few minutes of the game,and his performances in the first half of the championship season we very good not only scoring loads of goals but setting them up for others Barnard was excellent with Lambert in league One and we were fortunate that we had Connelly as a replacement when he got injured at the end of our promotion season Forte goals in our come back against MK dons were worthy of his salery on their own And Billy Sharpe gave us the extra goalscoring ability we needed to get us over the line at the end of the Championship season Hooiveld di well for us in championship but ais someone off being good enough for Premier but even he chipped in with the goals to gain us a vital 4 points agoinst West Ham so they've all played their part and we should be grateful for their contributions

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cheltenhamsaint added 21:31 - Mar 26 Very good summary Nick and it is important for supporters of the club to understand that it is not just about the 11/14 that play the last and the next match but also about those that have contributed along the way but still have a contract of employment. The few detractors of MP need patience, imho, that these players are on the pay role still yet not part of his squad (generally). Time has to lapse so that pay role money is freed up to invest in the current squad and any future additions. He is still playing for the most part with the hand he was dealt and with no real complaint from him. Hypothetically, and bear with me in my fantasy world, if we had retained Bale, Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain, we would have a very potent squad at this moment in time. So I would advocate, in an ideal world, to keep all our current talent. Firstly, it sends a message to other clubs of our ambition(newspapers as well), demonstrates that we have a "business model" that is different, but most importantly enables us to build a squad that is truly competitive at top 4 level in perhaps two to three years hence.

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ExiledSupporter added 10:46 - Mar 27 Would be interested in your opinion, Nick, as to whether we should retain Ramirez or not, there are quite a few pros and cons about him that makes it a difficult decision. Whatever the case we badly need a No.10 who can do what Gaston occasionally shows he has the potential to achieve. Regards Cork I think it is vital to retain him since we are always likely to want to play two out of out three holding midfielders with the third on the bench whenever possible so that we can put games to bed as we notably have failed to do in the recent past. I think it is difficult to imagine the return of Osvaldo but if we can't flog him to Juventus or wherever in Italy then to make the most of a difficult situation we should get him back and give him the main striker role with RL on the bench. If we had a No.10 who could play the ball into the channels that Osvaldo could turn on defender's shoulders then he and Rodrigues might be a very potent partnership viz. Suarez and Sturridge. I realise this means a measure of rapprochement which may be too much to ask...on the other hand I would settle for Lukaku like many other correspondents (above)

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GeordieSaint added 12:58 - Mar 27 Is Luke Shaw ready for Chelsea or Man City? As promising as he is he is nowhere near the finished article. I don't think he would get in the team at either of those clubs. Man U is a different kettle of fish but is he going to swap mid table mediocrity for mid table mediocrity?
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davepid added 13:50 - Mar 27 Forte - never worth three years salary or more. NA must have been very disappointed as they had worked together in Scunthorpe and Forte had been an England u 18 player. Barnard - 22 goals in 63 matches. Reasonable.us buying him from Southend stopped one of our promotion rivals from buying him, Guly - 13 goals I think in 83 matches. A bit disappointing but he did have a great first half Championship season and he contributed to the teams success at a time we didn't know how they would fair in the championship. His languid style didn't win over the terraces but he has been a good servant of the club. Osvaldo coming back. Oh dear. No wonder Fonte has appeared to have other things on his mind these last few games!

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