IAN Craney remains the only Accrington Stanley player officially under contract for the 2011/12 campaign, and the midfielder hopes the majority of last season’s squad will commit their futures to the club before the start of pre-season training on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old admits he has had few stranger summers, waiting for news on the rest of the Stanley squad with his own future firmly secured after joining from Fleetwood on an 18-month contract in January.

Craney still has high hopes for the campaign ahead, with even automatic promotion in his sights.

He said: “I have found it strange because I’m the only one under contract and you want to hear who’s staying and about the signings that will be coming in.

“But we’re back training on Wednesday and I’m sure there will be more people here then.

“Of course I want people to stay but it’s up to them to make their own decisions “Hopefully we can keep the squad together and then I think we can start next season as we finished and hopefully be in contention to go up automatically.

“I think we learned a lot from being in the play-offs and we have a lot of young players, so if we can keep the squad together we will have a great chance.”

Stanley’s first pre-season friendly is currently at Radcliffe Borough on Wednesday, July 13 at 7.30pm before they host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, July 16 at 3pm.