NOTTS County have revealed some players will have to take a pay cut to stay at Meadow Lane.
The Magpies have offered eight players new deals – but have not been able to match the cash they are on now because they are slashing their budget by 30 per cent for next season.
Boss Chris Kiwomya has tabled fresh contracts to Jeff Hughes, Alan Sheehan, Joss Labadie and Yoann Arquin as well as youngsters Haydn Hollis, Curtis Thompson, Greg Tempest and Tyrell Waite.
And he hopes the cash situation does not prove a major stumbling block to them putting pen to paper.
"We have got to make the finances fit," he said.
"They are still privileged to be footballers and they're still getting paid good money so even though they are reduced terms for some of them it is what it is at this moment in time.
"If they believe in themselves and they believe the club is going in the right direction they'll sign.
"If it's a stumbling block, don't sign, it's as simple as that really.
"We will offer what we can afford and we're not going to pay over the odds, that's the way it's got to be run now.
"The owner can't keep in pumping his money into it. We have got to work within the financial situation and, like I keep saying, I've got no problem with that.
"The budget is what it is and I'm comfortable with it.
"I still think I can make us a very competitive team in the league and that's what I'll do.
"It makes it a bit more difficult, but my glass is always half full.
"If we can keep the foundations of the team in there and add a few more players in the right departments we'll be a team that can go places next season."
Notts fans are hoping the likes of Sheehan and Hughes don't 'go places' too, and leave Meadow Lane for a rival club.
They have both enjoyed two good seasons with the Magpies, Hughes scoring a career-record 17 goals last season and playing 99 games, while Sheehan has been the first-choice left-back, playing 82 games.
"Alan's a good defender," said Kiwomya.
"I think he played very well last season and hasn't hit the heights this season, but defensively he's done very well and I think he's a player that can give a lot to the club and hopefully we can get something sorted.
"I'd like to think we could, but players have got to want to play for this club."
The Magpies have activated an option to extend Labadie's contract for another year, after he ended the season in great form.
He looked set to leave the club this summer when he was loaned out to League Two strugglers Torquay United, but after scoring four goals in seven games for them the 22-year-old came back to Notts and shone in the last four games, netting a wonder goal in a shock 1-0 win at champions Doncaster Rovers.
"Joss said he wanted to go out and play and he did very well, scoring a few goals, and then he came back and played well in the last few games," said Kiwomya.
"He created a goal at Bournemouth, he scored one at Doncaster and I just think he's at that age where he can improve and I'd like to give him that opportunity to do that here."
Kiwomya has also given pro contracts to scholars Romello Nangle, Malachi Lavelle-Moore and Kyle Dixon and Kiwomya wants his more experienced players to give them and Hollis, Thompson, Tempest and Waite guidance next season.
"If we can get one or two youth team players through each season I will be very pleased with that, but you need the experienced players," he said.
"The younger players can only come through if the senior players are guiding them and setting them an example, so the likes of (Dean) Leacock, (Gary) Liddle and Sheehan are important in that sense, so the young players have got something to look up to and have got standards to meet in training and on the pitch."
All the youngsters look set to get a chance from the start of next season.
"They're going to be important if they take the opportunity they have been given," he said. "Just because they have been given a contract doesn't mean to say they are going to be in the first team. Pre-season is going to be massive for them."
