ACCRINGTON Stanley’s hopes of making early moves to tie down their star players to new contracts could be hit by the club’s continuing ownership struggle.

Stanley management duo John Coleman and Jimmy Bell are eager to hand extended deals to a number of their existing squad – including Jimmy Ryan – to avoid a repeat of last season, when star duo Michael Symes and Bobby Grant were able to leave at their end of their contracts.

But the Reds are unlikely to be able to finalise contracts until they have an idea of the club’s budget for next season.

It still remains uncertain what finances will be available and who will be in charge of the club by then.

Ilyas Khan is considering his options as he bids to start a share issue, but Eric Whalley continues to own the club with Dave O’Neill waiting to complete his takeover. Coleman and Bell, though, are keen to press on with new contracts.

“We have got a very young squad who will improve,” said assistant manager Bell.

“We lost some players last year that we didn’t want to lose, so hopefully we can keep the vast majority of this squad.

“We will try to sort out contracts as soon as we know who the owners are, so we can find out what the budget for next season will be.”