Stafford chairman John Downing has revealed the club are close to agreeing new terms with the core of the team from last season.

Inevitably, there have been casualties – skipper Wayne Daniel the highest profile exit when he signed for Worcester last week.

He joined left-back Liam Murray and goalkeeper Tim Sandercombe in leaving Marston Road after their successful relegation fight of 2008/09.

But everybody else is free to sign for Rangers, with manager Chris Brindley in touch with the last remaining players to see where they stand for the campaign ahead.

Big decisions on the likes of 20-goal striker David McNiven, Stuart Pierpoint, Nick Amos, Jake Moult and Nick Wellecomme are expected in the next few days.

There may even be additions, with the club known to be interested in a number of players now available.

Downing is hopeful the news will be positive when it comes.

He said: “Chris has been working on a retained list for a little while now and we have had some pretty positive promises. Players don’t normally sign for at least a couple of weeks yet, so the manager is hitting the ground running early this year.

“Such is tradition that at the end of the season the players go on holiday and weigh up their options when they get back. Some of them are not even back from holiday yet.

“A lot of the club men that played for us last season have indicated that they want to be back with us, so it’s looking good. A lot of it is verbal at the moment, agreed, but some of them are not even looking to sign anywhere else.”