Morecambe boss Bentley knows his key men will be in demand

The Shrimps boss has offered contracts to Michael Rose, Kevin Ellison, Barry Roche, Aaron Wildig, Alex Kenyon, Paul Mullin and Ryan Edwards after an 18th-placed finish in League Two.

A season of turmoil off the field looks to be settling down with Graham Burnard confirmed as the club’s majority shareholder after Diego Lemos’ court claim was thrown out.

Bentley has a big job building a squad though and knows departures are almost inevitable having previously seen Jamie Devitt and Shaun Miller star at the Globe Arena only to leave for Carlisle 12 months ago.

“I’ve got to get the squad sorted,” he said.

“We can’t compete with some of the clubs at this level but what we can do is bring players in that are capable of competing at this level and capable of developing and if they do move onto bigger and better things at the end of their contracts then fair play to them.

“There’s players that have done well for us this season and some that have done extremely well that we’ll find it hard to keep hold of.

“But that’s the nature of the game for a club of our size.

“We’ve had in the past. You’ve only got to look back 12 months with Carlisle taking Devitt and Miller.

“Fair play to anyone who does that because they can progress and the financial rewards are bigger.”

The end of Lemos’ court bid should at least mean a smoother ride this summer after a season that saw wages paid late on three occasions as the club survived from month to month.

“Graham Burnard is here which is fantastic,” said Bentley.

“He’s only been associated with the club over the last couple of months and that’s only come about because of circumstances beyond his control.

“We’ve had a difficult season off the field with the late payment of wages, selling our best player (Tom Barkhuizen), the transfer embargo etc, etc, but we’ve done what we’ve needed to do, we’ve stayed in the division.

“The court case is done and Graham Burnard is the majority shareholder.

“He’s a good person with a positive attitude and hopefully things will develop over the coming weeks which will put us on a more sound financial footing and we can all look forward to a brighter future.”