IT'S been quite a week with Carl Heeley and John Snape leaving St George's Lane.

Both players helped me tremendously when I came back to Worcester City and are terrific professionals on and off the pitch.

But these things happen in football and we must move on quickly to take the club forward next season.

I'm hoping I can now sign three or four quality players to strengthen our squad and I've made it a priority to sign at least one defender. But, as I've said before, my budget is still pretty tight.

I could have kept all the players but that would have been it for next season. It would have been the same squad without any fresh faces.

It was a very tough decision for Carl to move on after 11 years here. He's been a fantastic servant to the club and he would not have taken the decision lightly.

We wanted him to stay and offered him a new contract but we just could not agree. Carl has to do what's best for him and he felt it was the right time to try a fresh challenge elsewhere.

I fully understand and respect him for that. I wish him all the best for the future.

I said a couple of weeks ago that there were several tough decisions ahead of me and releasing Snapper was one of them.

Snapper adapted well to becoming just a player again and his performances were important when we had a good run of results.

I looked at ways of keeping him in other roles at the club but we just could not afford it.

It was a matter of finances. The decision was taken because we need to bring new players in and there is not a lot of money to play with.

Unfortunately, we also had to move Dan Parker on. He probably came in a bit too late to the team and did not perform as well in the games as he did in training. He found it quite a big step up for him.

I spoke for a long time to Dan and it might not be the end for him with Worcester.

I'm sure a number of clubs are interested in Dan, but we will keep our eyes on him in the future.

Rather than being stuck in our reserves, it will do him good to play regular first-team football elsewhere. It will give him a lot of confidence and bring out the best in him.

Christian Moore has been placed on the transfer list and the reason for that is to try to free up some funds. We are also quite strong in the striking department at the moment with James Smith, Adam Webster, Leon Kelly and myself.

On the other hand, it is not too bad if Christian stays because it gives us another striker pushing hard for a place. I'm sure he is a good enough player for the club.

Danny McDonnell had an operation on his hernia yesterday and it will be good to have him fit and fresh for the new season.

He made some important saves for us this season and is excellent at one-on-ones. Usually, when a striker bursts through on goal with just the goalkeeper to beat, you do often fear the worst.

But with Danny, I almost expect him to keep it out and there's not many 'keepers you can say that about. He's also still quite young in goalkeeping terms, so there is still areas where he can perhaps improve.

We are keeping Lewis Skyers at the club as our number two goalkeeper. Lewis showed against Barrow that he has ability.

But there is plenty of room for improvement and we will work on him. All young goalkeepers are liable to making some mistakes and it's a matter of keeping concentration levels high. He has got to learn to do that, even in training.

Lewis has got to prove that when the opportunity presents itself, when Danny is unavailable, he can come straight in and do a job for us.