Town chief executive Derek Bowden says January will see contract talks with the players whose current deals end in the summer. A number of first team regulars are on terms which are up at the end of June.

Bowden said: "Joe will talks to all those players he needs to in January after we have got the Christmas period of fixtures over with. There are a lot of players out of contract who we want to keep and he will talk to them or their agents."

Amongst those out of contract are skipper Jim Magilton, Fabian Wilnis, Drissa Diallo, Shefki Kuqi, Antonio Murray and Tommy Miller. Royle will probably want to keep most of those players, although which division the Blues are in next season will have a bearing on whether some players remain at the club.

Town have already told Chris Hogg and Adem Atay that they will not be offered new deals, while Pablo Couñago looks certain to leave the club, either when his deal ends in the summer or during the January transfer window.

The Blues may also seek to offer longer contracts to youngsters like Ian Westlake and Dean Bowditch.

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