Lancaster City have will have to battle to keep hold of star players

The Dolly Blues manager is confident that the vast majority of his players from last season will remain at the club when the new campaign gets under way.

But such were the performances from many of his players last season before the Covid-19 pandemic, Fell admits there could be interest from other clubs.

City, of course – despite having one of the lowest budgets in the NPL Premier Division – spent most of last season in the top five and even topped the table for a number of weeks.

“We do have a couple of players who attracted interest from a National League club,” said Fell.

“So I’ve just got to monitor that. I know this particular club are throwing a lot of feelers out with a lot of players.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a concern for us but I think it just shows how well our players performed last season. That they are attracting interest from higher up.

“This is the danger we have not contracting players.

“I would love to have a fully contracted squad, then you don’t have any worries.

“You don’t go to bed at night thinking, ‘I wonder who is ringing them up over the summer?’.

“To be fair I do it with other players from other clubs and I know it gets done to us.

“I can’t complain about it. It is a fact of football at this level.

“I can’t moan about someone tapping up one of my players when I am doing it to somebody else.

“Of course we know it happens. If I see somebody who I think is going to make my team better, then you’re going to give them a call or drop them a message.

“You just have accept that. In a perfect world, I would be able to contract more players but then the club like Lancaster City is not in a position to do that.

“That is something I totally understand. There are risks to both sides of it.”