Town boss Paul Jewell says he now expects the Blues’ contract saga to drag on until after the end of the 2010/11 campaign. Central defender Damien Delaney is still the only senior player whose current terms are up at the end of the season to have signed a new deal.
Jewell said: "I think that it’s got so late now that it’s going to go on until after to the end of the season.
"We’ve made the offer, the players are mulling it over, I guess, but at the end of the day I can’t fault their efforts, the lads who are out of contract as well as those who are in contract.
"We have spoken to [David Norris and Gareth McAuley],” he added. "They know the situation, we’ve made them offers.
"The main concern now is that a week isn’t going to make a lot of difference to anybody. We do have contingency plans, we have to have contingency plans, and we’ve told the players that.
"You’ve got to always have other irons in the fire. I’m not sitting here biting my nails, waiting for the news. I’ve got one plan if they sign, which is great, another if they don’t.
"That’s life. If any player leaves here this club will continue and the most important thing is the club. If we lose good players, we have to replace them.”
Last week Jewell said that terms had been agreed with McAuley but the Northern Irishman — who has recently been linked with SPL giants Rangers - is still to put pen to paper: "I think the club have agreed to what Gareth’s agent wants but it’s a big decision for Gareth and I think everything will probably be resolved very quickly after the end of the season. Hopefully Gareth will stay, but if not I wish him well.
"What his people have asked for, we’ve agreed to and we’re just waiting on an answer now. Maybe he has something else, that’s his prerogative, I don’t know.
"It’s a little bit different with David Norris, there’s a bit of toing and froing with Chuck but it’s not my place to discuss it and I don’t really want to discuss it.”
Town had set deadlines for the agents representing Colin Healy and Brian Murphy to get back to them regarding their deals but Jewell admits these timescales have now moved: "A little bit, yes. We’ve offered what we think they want but it’s certainly not going to be resolved before the Leicester game.”
More than anything, the Blues boss is determined to avoid the same thing happening again: "We don’t want to be in a situation next season or in future seasons where we let our better players run out of contract.
"It’s been tough here with so many players out of contract at one given time. I’ve had more questions to deal with about contracts than games.
"Protracted negotiations have been going on for a while now and I’m really fed up of talking about it, although I know you guys [the media] have to ask about it.”
Jewell says those negotiations continue, as do conversations with his summer targets: "There are always talks [with current players], but my main concern now is to talk to players that I’m trying to bring in."