We can't lose Yates warns Creighton

The Aggbrough boss' contract ends on Saturday, along with the majority of the playing squad.

Only Lee Baker, Andy Ferrell, Russell Penn and Creighton himself remain under terms for next season.

No decision on anybody's future can be made until it is iron-clad who will occupy the manager's chair for next season, although few would bet against Yates being offered a new deal, after taking the club to within a whisker of the play-off's.

But he will want the tools to build on that success and is likely to seek assurances from the powers-that-be that they share his vision.

Now the captain has warned what could potentially happen if they don't.

He said: "The club need him, because they won't get anybody better than our gaffer. If he went, there would be a lot of players at this club who would consider their future and, as far as I am concerned, if Mark went I would be gone as well. I wouldn't want to stay.

"I would have thought that he will be offered something, but I am also pretty sure that he won't want to be making up the numbers next year. He's got ambition, he wants to be pushing and he will want to build on what we have done.

"The gaffer will need a decent budget to do that and, if he doesn't get that, who knows what could happen."

The predicament Harriers find themselves in is not uncommon at the modern day non-league club, in fact it is even becoming more frequent in the lower reaches of the Football League as well.

No club, in this economic climate, can afford to commit beyond their means any more than season to season.

The players return for a training session on Friday, where the future direction of the club is likely to be a hot topic of dicussion.

But the manager signing that new deal has to be the first order of business, warns Creighton.

He said: "It's hard at the minute relating to the squad, how can the manager offer contracts for next season when he hasn't got one himself? I feel sorry for him, because his hands are tied at the minute.

"To be fair to the club, that is the situation across the country but decisions need to be made quickly."