PAUL Cook says he is determined to avoid getting involved in a summer auction to keep hold of his stars at Accrington Stanley.

The Reds lost six key players last summer after Jimmy Ryan, Joe Jacobson, Phil Edwards, Terry Gornell, Alex Cisak and Sean McConville were all tempted away from the Crown Ground by offers from elsewhere.

Stanley’s run to the play-offs meant deals were not offered until after the final game of the season, with previous boss John Coleman keen for contract talks not to get in the way of the club’s promotion hopes.

But the Reds are in mid-table this term and Cook wants to start making moves to keep players he believes have a long-term future at the club.

Only Luke Joyce and Dean Winnard currently have contracts for next season.

“At a lot of clubs they’ll wait until the last day of the season and they have everyone in like they’re school kids,” said the former Sligo boss.

“I don’t agree with it.

“Even if it’s a bad decision or a good decision by the manager, I’d prefer to tell them like adults.

“The likelihood is we might try to get one or two over the line early that we want to keep rather than get involved in a six-week auction over the summer where basically lads will use an offer from us to see if anything better comes along.

“What I tend to do now is if they don’t sign that day, I’ll withdraw the offer.

“I’m not going to get involved in waiting around.”