NEWPORT County AFC plan to spend tomorrow and Friday locked in contract negotiations with their players, the Argus can reveal.

The Exiles are keen to secure virtually the entire squad that helped them to promotion via the play-offs as they plan for life in the Football League.

The Argus understands that a number of players – a figure comfortably in double figures – have activated clauses in their contracts that stated they’d get an extra year if they played in X amount of games.

However, having achieved promotion to League Two, the terms on each individual contract must be re-negotiated from scratch.

But it is understood that virtually the entire squad have privately expressed a desire to stay, with a return to the elite 92 of English football now assured.

Christian Jolley, Robbie Willmott, Conor Washington and Max Porter are already signed on for a further year and the likes of Lenny Pidgeley, David Pipe, Andy Sandell, Ismail Yakubu, Tony James, Byron Anthony, Lee Minshull, Danny Crow, Mike Flynn and Aaron O’Connor will all be offered new terms for next season.

However, the Argus understands it is even possible that no players other than those released last week will be allowed to leave without negotiation. Even players marginalised in recent weeks like Rhys Griffiths could well end up staying.

Manager Justin Edinburgh was keen to keep negotiations between the club and personnel private but was happy to confirm plans for the week ahead.

“Firstly I will meet with Tim Harris this morning, I’m down in Newport to talk to him and the board all day and then of course we have the parade around the city in the evening,” he said.

“I don’t want to stand on ceremony though when it comes to starting the hard work and the hard graft, because on and off the pitch there is an awful lot they we need to do.

“So on Thursday and Friday I hope we can speak to a lot of the boys about what the future has in store and start to make some announcements to put smiles on the fans’ faces.

“It’s going to be an immensely busy summer for us.”

The Exiles will also meet with Football League officials in due course to make provisions to meet the Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP).

The SCMP limits spending on total player wages to a proportion of each club’s turnover, with clubs providing budgetary information to the Football League at the beginning of the season that is updated as the campaign progresses.

Any club that is deemed to have breached the permitted spending threshold will be subject to a transfer embargo. Wherever possible, the League will seek to tackle the issue ‘at source’ by refusing player registrations that take clubs beyond the threshold.

At the beginning of the current season, League Two clubs reduced the permitted spending threshold to 55% from 60% and this figure will continue to be operated next season.

“We obviously are aware of all the legislation and will be in discussion with the Football League,” director of football Tim Harris told us.

“Revenue wise, there are certain aspects to next season we are very excited about, not least the potential for several sold out games against the likes of Portsmouth, Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers and I could go on and on.”