Roy Keane has confirmed the first four releases from the senior squad this summer.
The Sunderland boss announced today that the contracts of four players will not be renewed when they expire this summer - that being Andy Cole, Ian Harte, Stan Varga and Stephen Wright.
Keane said: “We’ve spoken to the lads who are under contract until the end of the season and told them they won’t be getting another one. I’ve had a chat with Yorkie and we are due another discussion next week, he has one or two options.
“It’s not as if it has to be done this week - contracts don’t expire until the end of June - but it’s only fair to put the players in the picture. Every player has contributed, be it this season or last, and I want to put on record my thanks to them.”
Cole and Harte were signed by Keane at the start of this season on free transfers, but after the pair made eight appearances each for the first team this season, their long-term futures were never really going to extend beyond their original 12 month contracts.
Stan Varga, who re-joined us from Celtic in August 2006, made no appearances for the first team this season, playing his only 11 games of the season out on loan at Burnley.
It was a similar story for the injury-plagued Stephen Wright, the last remnant in the squad from the Peter Reid era. His football this season came in Sunderland’s reserve team and with a loan spell at Stoke City, only for an injury to wreck a potential move to Hull City.
The former Liverpool man’s last game for Sunderland came a year ago in the last game of the 2006-7 Championship winning season, but he hadn’t been a regular for the Lads in the past three seasons.
On top of those four, Dwight Yorke’s contract is also up, but Roy Keane is hoping the 36 year old will agree to stay on in a coaching role, rather than make a rumoured return to Australia. Meanwhile, youngsters Billy Dennehy, Gavin Donoghue, Peter Hartley and Jake Richardson are all expected to make their exits.
Out of those four, only Hartley has any first team experience with Sunderland - a lone substitute’s appearance in the Championship in January 2007 against Leicester City - which adds to his recent loan spell with Chesterfield. Dennehy enjoyed a brief loan with Accrington Stanley at the end of 2007, while Donoghue and Richardson have no first team experience to speak of.
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