Mark Yates has today said that he hopes to be in a position to confirm the signings of a number of his on-trial players at the start of next week.

Boss Yates met with Chairman Barry Norgrove this week and confirmed to the official website that he's now at a very advanced stage of discussions with several players.

As of today (Friday), none of those on trial have inked contracts to stay at Aggborough permanently, but Yates suggested it is now just a matter of a couple of days.

"No one has put pen to paper at the moment," he said this afternoon.

"I'm a stickler for that kind of thing - I don't want anything announced until everything is signed and sealed because you can get egg on your face with things like that.

"But we are well down the line with a number of the lads we've had here.

"They have been here as part of our squad and we're trying to keep as many as we can.

We know they're decent players and they've all done very well here."

Yates hopes to have had the deals he wants done signed and sealed by around Tuesday, as the build-up continues to next weekend's big Blue Square Premier kick-off against Lewes.

"On the face of it, having 12 players actually signed and on contract doesn't look too good today," he admitted.

"But come Tuesday that will definitely have changed, we'll be fine - we're looking forward to the start of the season.

"It's just a case of people putting pen to paper."