TWTD understands that Ronan Murray, Joe Whight and Cormac Burke are amongst a number of fringe players to have been told that they will not be offered new contracts in the summer. The trio's current terms are up at the end of June.

Republic of Ireland U21 international Murray, who is currently on loan at Plymouth, made one start and 13 sub appearances for the Town first team, scoring one goal, having joined the academy after leaving school. The 21-year-old striker has also spent time on loan at Torquay and Swindon.

Former Copleston High School pupil Whight, who is on loan with Blue Square South side Chelmsford for the rest of the season, was on the bench for the first team on a number of occasions but didn’t make it on to the pitch. The 19-year-old joined the academy when he was 12.

Northern Irish U19 international Cormac Burke, 19, joined the academy as a full-time scholar after leaving school and made his only first team appearance as an 89th minute sub in the Capital One Cup tie at home to Bristol Rovers on the opening day of the season.

The other first team squad members whose contracts are up in the summer are Lee Martin, Andy Drury, Arran Lee-Barrett, Jack Ainsley and recent signing Jason Brown, while Gunnar Thorsteinsson's academy terms also come to an end.

Manager Mick McCarthy is unlikely to make any decisions on senior players until the club's divisional status for next season is confirmed.

Photo: Action Images

algarvefan added 14:30 - Apr 4 It's a sad fact that most academy players don't make the transition into the first team and because of our poor form opportunities have been very limited in the squad. There must come a time when the club has to say sorry to the youngster and advise them to move on. I wish them all well, it may just be the making of some of them, lets just hope it's not to our cost in the future!!!!

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Nthsuffolkblue added 14:49 - Apr 4 The big difference between Tommy Smith and all these players is that club managers and the international team manager saw something in Tommy consistently. The fact that a lot of the fans didn't is completely different. None of these players fits the description of what Rhodes was achieving at their age either.
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itfc789 added 14:50 - Apr 4 What about 2nd year scholars Sean Miekle and Lewis Acott???
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i_like_that_bolder added 21:17 - Apr 4 We should never have let Caolan Lavery go either
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i_like_that_bolder added 21:20 - Apr 4 Or Tom Eastman
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i_like_that_bolder added 21:25 - Apr 4 Or Cody Cropper
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