Peterhead boss Jim McInally is disappointed to lose Steven Boyd and Kyle Bailey.
The attacker and defender are leaving the Blue Toon following the expiry of their contracts.
Following the Buchan outfit’s final game of the season on May 4, McInally gave the players he had made offers to until the end of May to decide on their future.
With that deadline having passed for Boyd and Bailey, they will both be moving on.
Boyd was back close to his best
Boyd, 24, joined Peterhead in January 2020 and made 30 appearances, scoring four times.
McInally said: “I’m disappointed I haven’t heard from Steven and I’m disappointed to lose him.
“But I’m not surprised, because he’s a talented player and I’m sure there are a few clubs who will be interested.
“He was also asked to take a wage cut. We still made him a good offer, but he was asked to take a cut.
“I’m sure he’ll have other offers that are closer to home and that’s fine.
“It’s not really a surprise that there will be interest in him. I think at times during the season he got back to near his best and we saw what a good player he is.
“When Steven is near his best I think he’s better than our level, so we just need to move on.”
Bailey’s big commitment
Englishman Bailey made 23 appearances for the Blue Toon and moved to Scotland to sign for the club.
McInally added: “I wasn’t expecting Kyle to stay, because he made a massive effort last year on modest wages.
“We couldn’t really expect him to do that again.
“He made a great contribution and he was great value for money. I know the sacrifices he made to join us.
“He wasn’t working, which was his choice, but that meant it was tough for him.
“I’m not sure where he’ll go next, but he’ll do a good job for somebody. I’d no complaints overall with what Kyle gave us.”
Payne’s future still to be decided
One player whose future is not yet decided is Niah Payne.
The forward, who hails from Leeds, joined Peterhead in January and made 11 appearances.
However, the 22-year-old has still to decide if he will be able to commit to periods away from his family to play for the Blue Toon.
McInally said: “Niah has got a partner and a baby that he was away from for a good period of the season once he joined us.
“Niah wants to come back, but he needs to weigh up whether he can face being away from his family again.
“We haven’t given Niah a deadline, because it’s a big decision for him and I fully understand his predicament.”
McInally looking to add to his squad
As it stands, Peterhead have 14 players signed up for next season, which starts on July 10.
McInally will be looking to add to that in the coming weeks, however, the Blue Toon are trying to be financially prudent.
Current Scottish Government guidelines on crowds mean that clubs will only be able to welcome supporters back either seated or standing, not both.
Therefore, until the guidelines change, the capacity of Balmoor will be capped at 246.
McInally said: “With the deadline we set, we need to know what we’re doing because the season is just over a month away.
“I felt I gave the players long enough, because we need to run our club.
“There is a big market of players out there. We will be a wee bit restricted financially because of the restrictions on crowd capacity, but hopefully they will change soon.
“So we need to know where we are and what we’re spending.”
