To retain or not to retain - that is the question currently facing many lower league managers at the end of the 2019-20 season amidst the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is under these circumstances that Torquay United manager Gary Johnson is due to announce the Gulls' retained list this weekend.
Johnson currently has 17 players under contract, with four who have deals that runs until the end of the 2020-21 season who are believed to be Brazilian goalkeeper Lucas Covolan and midfielders Armani Little and Jake Andrews and one another. Also midfielder Ryan Dickson, who spent a large part of last season on loan at Truro City, will be leaving the club.
In addition to this, the Gulls have six players on loan at Plainmoor, including Robbie Cundy and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans (Bristol City), Frank Vincent (AFC Bournemouth), Joe Lewis (Swansea City), Jackson Longridge (Bradford City) and Ade Azeez (Newport County). Several of those players could return next season.
Nobody knows how the current National League season will be resolved -
the play-offs are now seemingly distant prospect as the Football League
have indicated that they are looking for one team to replace Bury, who
were expelled earlier in the campaign. That team looks set to be Barrow
who were top of the table at the time that the league was suspended.
With many clubs having experiencing a drop in income since the outbreak started, as well as the rest of the nation's economy - which would have had a knock-on effect on the business interests of many directors - many clubs, including United, have furloughed their playing staff under the Government's Job Retention Scheme.
A number of clubs have already announced their retained lists, including League Two side Colchester United who have released four first team regulars that they had wished to retain in the form of Franck Nouble, Luke Prosser, Ryan Jackson and Brandon Comley. U's chairman Robbie Cowling stated at the time: "I won't gamble with other people's livelihoods or the club". Colchester were sixth in League Two, and firmly in contention for the play-offs and remains to be seen how many others follow suit.
With uncertainty also surrounding the start date for the 2020-21 campaign, widely tipped to be Saturday, August 8th, United's retained list, and the others that follow, are being easily anticipated and look set to be very revealing ahead of the most challenging close season in recent memory.
