ACCRINGTON Stanley assistant manager Jimmy Bell has warned that the club risk losing him and boss John Coleman if their new contracts are not finalised in the near future.

Stanley were powerless to stop emerging star Bobby Grant joining Scunthorpe last week, with the 19-year-old out of contract this summer, and may struggle to secure the £250,000 they feel he is worth when they go to a tribunal to determine the transfer fee.

Fellow striker Michael Symes is similarly expected to leave the Reds on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling in what remains a hangover of the club’s financial crisis last summer, which left them reluctant to offer players deals lasting more than a season.

And Stanley still remain vulnerable to losing their management duo on the cheap should they receive an offer from another club, with Coleman and Bell currently on verbal one-year rolling contracts at the Crown Ground.

Non-executive chairman Ilyas Khan announced in November that he wanted to give the pair written contracts to reward their 11 years of success at Stanley, improving their terms and tying them to the club for two or possibly three years.

But the Reds have still not finalised the deal and Bell believes they have not deserved to have been kept waiting for so long.

“I think it could come back to bite them if we didn't sign it, because someone might take a chance on us and then it would be down to us what we wanted to do,” said the Stanley assistant. “John has been linked with Bradford and Shrewsbury in the last few months.

“I don’t know how long it takes to draw up a contract, but it doesn’t take six months.

“Myself and John are more than happy to stay here and I think we’ve done a fantastic job, so you’d like to feel you deserve a little bit better.

“You do worry a little bit that it has been dragging on for so long, but you perhaps don’t worry as much as you might at some other clubs because we’ve been working without a contract for 11 years.”