WEYMOUTH player-manager Jason Tindall is confident that he can keep star striker Stuart Beavon at the Wessex Stadium.

The Terras' boss has been in regular contact with the 23-year-old front man since the end of the season and he is sure he wants to remain at the club.

But Tindall cannot offer the ex-Didcot Town man a contract until negotiations concerning the club's future are finally completed. The long-awaited announcement has suffered several delays but it now seems certain to be made this week.

Tindall said: "I have been talking to Stuart Beavon on a regular basis and the good thing with him is that we have got a very good relationship.

"He came to Weymouth because of what I had to say to him and I know he wants to stay here. I will chat again with him later this week once the announcement has been made and then I will sit down with him and hopefully get him to commit to the club.

"If we can do that then it would be fantastic because there will be no better striker in the league."

The chances of Raphael Nade signing a permanent deal for the Terras are not so clear. The Ivory Coast-born forward, who was on loan at the Nationwide Conference National outfit for the whole of last season, has just had his contract at Carlisle United terminated.

Tindall, who has not spoken to Nade since the end of the campaign, said: "I spoke to all the lads at the end of the season and Raphael Nade was going to speak to his agent.

"I would like to keep as many of the players as possible providing it is feasible but we are not going to be able to pay the wages that were being paid last season that is for sure.

"It is certainly going to be a bit different for the players who were here at the start of last season because they are going to have to take pay cuts. If they are prepared to do that then brilliant if not then there is nothing we can do about it."

That means Jason Matthews, Ashley Vickers, Trevor Challis, Roy O'Brien, Nick Crittenden and Simon Weatherstone will all have to swallow a reduction in wages to remain at the club.

Tindall added: "After the announcement is made it might take a while before everything is sorted out. Any new manager that comes into a club wants to bring in his own players and I am no different.

"There are three or four I would like to bring in for next season and I have already said to them that as soon as everything has been sorted I will speak to them again and put things to them.

"I felt at the end of the season the team was going in the right direction but I also felt that we were a few players short from mounting a serious challenge.

"If I can bring in the players I want and keep the bulk of the squad from last season then the future will look good."