Boss' urge for out-of-contract stars

Kidderminster Harriers manager Steve Burr has told the club's out-of-contract stars to play themselves into new deals in the remaining games of the season.

As is the trend in the modern game, a host of the playing staff at Aggborough could find themselves unemployed in the summer, with only the cream of the crop likely to be offered any sort of new terms for the next campaign.

The club let eight go last summer and that was from a team that missed the play-offs on the last day of the season, although Harriers have now climbed back into the top 10 with a morale-boosting 1-0 win at home to Cambridge on Tuesday night.

Burr has already had to wheel and deal since taking the reins from Mark Yates in January and will have some big calls to make at the season's end, with first-team regulars such as Brian Smikle, Martin Riley and Dean Bennett out of contract.

A new broom usually sweeps clean the summer after settling into the hot-seat, but the manager is urging his players to make some decisions for him.

He said: "We will be looking to improve next season, definitely. The thing at the moment is, with the lads out of contract, they are playing for their next deal. Whether that may be elsewhere, or with us so we can say 'there you go.' The ones that perform put themselves in the frame for us sitting down with them in the summer.

"After the first month, I am thinking 'there is not a lot to be done here,' but now we might say 'yes, there is a lot of hard work needed out of us.' But I knew that when I came in, but striving to improve is what it's all about anyway.

"I have got a list of players who I would like to bring in, but it depends on the budget for next season."