Weston and Co know whats at stake

Walsall defender Rhys Weston has admitted the club's out of contract stars are "acutely aware" their futures are hanging in the balance but understand money talks.

Right-back Weston, Dwayne Mattis, Mark Bradley and captain Mark Hughes are among those facing an agonising wait to find out if they will be offered a contract at the end of the season.

Manager Chris Hutchings has already stated not everyone will be kept on and Weston, who played in the reserves' 4-0 win over Shrewsbury last night, insists the squad are realistic.

He said: "Football is a business, even more so with the global financial situation, the purse strings are being tightened all across the board and the players are acutely aware of the situation. There aren't lot of jobs and a lot of players looking for them.

"It's a cut-throat industry, you know it when you get involved and it's more so now. There's food for thought, no one knows what's going to happen with the budget but we've got players who have played at this level and above. It's not going to be an easy decision to let people go.

"The lads who played last night have hopefully strengthened their case for staying."

But Weston says the squad are keeping their emotions in check as they wait for Hutchings to break the news – which will come after the final League One game of the season with MK Dons on May 8.

He said: "There are no signs of twitchiness, people deal with things in different ways.

"I'm a little older so I deal with things in a different way but there's the old saying of 'control the controllables,' so all you can do is work as hard as you can."

The 29-year-old knows the time to impress is over as the players have had all season to ensure their future with the Saddlers.

He said: "Once the season started an awful lot of players were going into the last year of their contracts, the only way to guarantee future employment was to do it on the pitch.

"It's a game of opinions and one opinion can make or break your career, so you have to impress the powers that be because they make the decisions."