Stags’ retained list on hold

Manager Paul Cox had hoped to get everything tied up by today, but said: “There are still a few things that need finalising with players.

“So I expect it will be all sorted by the end of this week, building into next.

“The main thing is that I want to talk to players and a lot of them are away on an end-of-season trip to Magaluf right now which has put it back a bit.

“I want to do things properly and speak to players individually and make sure I have done everything right by the club.”

Stags finished 11th after Saturday’s 1-0 win at Bristol Rovers but were only kept off ninth place on goal difference

“For our first season back in the Football League, it was everything I probably anticipated,” said Cox.

“There were some tremendous highs like Chesterfield away and being third after 13 games.

“Then came the almighty fall from grace building to Christmas time before we finished really strongly like we usually do.

“We ended up joint ninth on points which, for our first season, was a tremendous achievement for all involved.

“Everyone deserves a lot of credit and the supporters have been behind us all season.

“Now we’ve had a taste of it, as a football club we need to learn from a lot of hard lessons and push forward.

“It was a massive step for us but we have finished above some massive clubs. I am sure they will all strengthen and chuck a great deal of resources at it so I envisage next season to be much tougher than this year.”