NO contract talks are imminent for those players whose current deals at Swindon Town expire at the end of this season, according to manager Mark Cooper.

Eighteen members of Cooper’s squad are believed to be out of contract this summer, though Town refused to confirm the identities of the individuals in question to the Advertiser yesterday, but the Robins will not sit down to discuss new terms until the final weeks of the campaign at the earliest.

Leigh Bedwell, Jay McEveley, Alex Smith, Jack Barthram, Aaron Oakley, Raphael Rossi Branco, Troy Archibald-Henville, Andy Williams, Dany N’Guessan, Connor Waldon, Mark Francis, Lee Cox, Paul Benson, Alan Navarro, Harry Agombar, Kayden Jackson, Nile Ranger and Alex Ferguson are all in the final year of their Town deals, though Smith, Barthram and Ranger’s terms all include one-year options.

With Swindon owner Lee Power ready to trim the wage bill again this summer in the pursuit of self-sustainability, the bumper paydays previously available at the County Ground will be a thing of the past.

“I’m sure that Lee will be waiting until we get closer until the end of the season until we do anything. It’ll be to do with budget,” Cooper told the Advertiser.

“I’ll sit down with Lee and we’ll decide where we’re going but it will come down to making sure that the club is still here next year and is self-sufficient, nothing else.

“What won’t happen is they won’t be getting contracts anywhere near what they’ve been earning, that’s the problem.”

Regardless of the players Town lose this summer, Cooper is confident that the core that remains will have the grounding to be successful in 2014/15.

“We have a nucleus of a strong squad for next season as well and we have to make sure we add the right ones over the coming months to make us even stronger next year,” he said.

“What the boys have been through this year will stand us in good stead for next year.”