ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman admits he faces a difficult juggling act at the club - and is keen to turn some of his loan signings into permanent moves to allow him more flexibility.

The Reds currently have eight loan players on their books but Football League rules only permit five in any matchday squad.

Of those loanees, defenders Farrend Rawson and Jordan Thorniley started the match with Luton last weekend while striker Mallik Wilks came off the bench and fullbacks Tyler Hornby-Forbes and Callum Johnson were unused subs.

That meant that forward Jonathan Edwards and centre back Tom Dallison missed out on a place in the matchday squad while goalkeeper Max Stryjek is out injured.

Given the loan contingent make up a sizeable portion of the Stanley squad, Coleman is working on moves to bring some of his temporary stars to the club on a permanent basis.

“The lads who are in that situation understand,” said Coleman. “It’s difficult for them and don’t get me wrong it’s difficult for me, to leave them out of the match day squad after watching them train all week.

“We are in the process of trying to convert a couple of the loan deals into permanent ones, we’ll wait and see but that would go a long way to helping ease the problem.”

Meanwhile, Coleman believes the contract extension handed out to top scorer Billy Kee this week is a further statement of Stanley intent.

Kee has put pen to paper on a deal until the summer of 2021 and follows in the footsteps of skipper Seamus Conneely and others in committing to a long-term contract.

And Coleman said the moves were part of a changing strategy at the club since owner Andy Holt took charge two years ago.

Coleman said: “We are at the stage now where we don’t have to break the team up every year.

“We lost players at the end of last season and we could lose players at the end of this season but we will lose them on our terms and not the other way round.

“It is not so much offering more money it is the security of offering them two or three year deals.

“Quite a few have signed long term deals, Sean McConville and Seamus Conneely to name but two.

“It is a good boost for the rest of the players that they see your regular players committing to the cause for such a long time.”