Dean Smith issues contract warning to Saddlers stars
Dean Smith today warned Walsall's out-of-contract players they will have to sign up swiftly or say goodbye.
Tomorrow is D-Day for several Saddlers stars whose deals expire in the summer, as they sit down with the manager to discuss their futures.
But Smith wants to hear whether they want to stay before offering any deals to those he hopes to keep.
Under FA rules, players have 28 days to decide whether to accept a formal contract offer.
But having experienced prolonged sagas with Will Grigg, Febian Brandy and others last summer, Smith is keen to avoid the same problems and says players can either decide quickly or be made free transfers.
When asked about the danger of things dragging on, Smith explained: "There is (a 28-day period) but this time there won't be because the conversation will be: 'Right, we want you. Do you want to stay? Let's sort a deal out now, otherwise you'll be a free transfer'.
"I'm not going to have offers out there where people can go and bargain with other clubs and your budget is tied up.
"So the situation will be 'We want you. If you want to stay, then let me know in the next couple of days and we will thrash out a deal' and that will be that, otherwise it will be on the free transfer list.
"It's happened before and I won't do it this season."
Top scorer Craig Westcarr is one of several players who will meet with the manager, along with defenders Andy Taylor and James Chambers and midfielder Nicky Featherstone.
Yesterday, Westcarr expressed frustration at not being offered a new deal during the course of the campaign.
But the 16-goal forward was also referenced by Smith in his press conference following Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Colchester, having been one of those players who held out before signing last year.
"At the end of the day, Craig Westcarr came back at the start of pre-season and then accepted a deal," said Smith. "Unfortunately for Craig it cost him money and saved us money. If he had accepted a deal at the end of the season, then it could have been done.
"But I think he's probably learned a lesson from that and if other players have taken notice, they will have learned a lesson from that as well.
"I won't make them an offer. It will be sit down, talk, can we come to a deal? If we can't, then they go on the free transfer list."
