Ebbsfleet United can confirm that the club will not be renewing contracts of seven players when they expire this summer.

As we all know, with the remaining matches cancelled, the Board of the National League are working to finalise whether play-offs will take place and how other “sporting outcomes” will be concluded.

The club has made efforts since the end of the season to ensure all our players have been taken care of from a welfare and contractual perspective.

Irrespective of the League’s decisions going forward, it is clear our club will not be involved in any further competitive fixtures for this season and as such we are obligated to complete our release list.

With so much uncertainty we felt it important to do this as soon as possible in order to give as much notice and opportunity for our released players.

The club has held discussions with those players whose contracts with the club expire this summer and as a result we can disclose that the following players’ contracts will not be renewed:

Tomi Adeloye | Nathan Ashmore | Andre Blackman | Alex Lawless |
Ayo Obileye | Sean Shields | Aswad Thomas

We wish to place on record our thanks to all those players for their efforts whilst at Ebbsfleet United and wish them all the best in the future.

Additionally, as publicised yesterday, Jack King has announced his retirement and we wish our outgoing skipper all the very best and thank him for his leadership and service.

During these uncertain times, like all clubs, we await news on the National League structure and season commencement. We will continue to work with the remainder of our squad to discuss potential terms and contracts for 2020/21 once more clarity on the structure, dates for commencement of next season and financial climate of the National League and player market is evident.

Fleet manager Kevin Watson said of the decisions made this past week: “I’ve had to make very difficult calls and it’s the toughest part of the job. Those boys that received those calls, I’d like to thank for all their tremendous effort and professionalism over the last few months and I wish them all every success.

“We’ve got targets moving forward but it’s a waiting game, particularly in the current scenario with so many things still up in the air but there’s one thing for sure and that’s about giving the club the best chance to get going once we know where we are and what we’re doing.”