Captain Craig Easton: Maybe a bit disappointed in what he's been offered
Many of the faithful believe that as five players have been shown the door already maybe there should have been word from the club on who has actually been offered new contracts and, in fact, if any have actually signed on the dotted line.
Shrimpers skipper Craig Easton, player-coach Graham Coughlan, defender Luke Prosser, strikers Blair Sturrock and Kyle Asante will be out of contract at the end of June.
However, the legendary Echo 'source' has raised his head once again and told the paper the not unsurprising news that Blues boss Paul Sturrock faces 'budget restrictions', (we're broke), and that this will lead to a 'new pay structure', (we're broke.)
The latter, of course, may lead to some of the senior players to hold back from placing pen to paper, especially Coughlan if he's also been offered added reponsibilities on the coaching side.
But if I were Luke and even son of Luggy, young Kyle should be happy to stay in league footy with possibily a loan outlet on offer next campaign, I'd get signing as quickly as I can through the door before the old Scot changes his mind.
If he believes thay are actually all worth keeping anyway, how much would you pay Luke and Blair, are they really good enough to be members of a squad seriously chasing promotion. (The hapless Prosser has been given a 4 out of 10 mark in his last two outings at left back, was Johnny any worse outside the height advantage?)
The 'source' told www.echo-news.co.uk: "Negotiations are ongoing with a number of players. In addition to that we are continuing to look at potential signings for next season. A sustainable pay structure has also been implemented to gain the greatest value from the budget and this will hopefully provide a strong platform to attract new targets."
Keeper Glenn Morris still looks odds-on to remain a Shrimper as he played enough games last season to trigger a clause which saw him handed another year's deal, though whether that would be as the No.1 only Luggy and how much dosh he actually gets to spend, (we're broke), once he's sorted this all out, we're have to wait and see.
Speculating on signings from league clubs with so many players released this May may not be as daft as first seen, non league players can still push for high wages.
As Johnny reminded us yesterday mortgages have to be paid and however poor the offers Luggy can put on the table, it's better than the doll queue.
Players have to be very confident that can find other clubs.