Retained list brings few surprises

With the growth of Twitter, the identity of a couple of the Cobblers players not offered new deals was apparent even before Saturday’s final game of the season so there wasn’t too many surprises this afternoon when Gary Johnson announced the retained list.

Ryan Gilligan looks to be on his way after being told that he will be made available for transfer whilst Leon McKenzie and Abdul Osman are among the big names to be leaving the club after not doing enough to earn a place in Johnson’s plans. Also departing are Paul Rodgers, Courtney Herbert, Marcus Hall, Alex Konstantinou, Seb Harris and Francis Laurent.

Billy McKay, Paul Walker, Kevin Thornton, Guillem Bauza and Greg Kaziboni have all been offered deals though with Thornton’s offer dependant on his fitness come the start of July when the players report back for pre-season training. Hopefully the incentive will now be there for Thornton to prove himself in time and given the last couple of weeks’ performances you have to say that he’s worth giving one more chance to.

Bauza has until Friday to decide on his future with Johnson keen to tie most issues up before he goes away on holiday. The Spanish striker is due to fly back to his home country next week and the Town boss has given him Friday’s deadline to decide on his future. Most Cobblers fans will want him to stay after impressing during his short time here towards the end of the season.

The futures of Chris Dunn, Dean Beckwith and Liam Davis is still unclear with Johnson undecided on their individual futures. Meanwhile, Michael Uwesu has been invited back to pre-season training in July.

It’s a shotgun approach from Johnson but it makes sense to get a picture of what he has early on before going after his prime transfer targets. One of those could include John Akinde, who spent time on loan at Dagenham and Redbridge in the last couple of months. The striker has been released by parent club Bristol City and there’s strong rumours that he’s in talks with the Cobblers.