Grimsby Town's retained players announced as 11 leave the club

Grimsby Town have announced their retained list for the 2024/25 campaign, with 11 players being released and contract talks ongoing with two others.

Niall Maher, Anthony Glennon, Abo Eisa, Arthur Gnahoua, Gavan Holohan, Otis Khan and Danny Amos have all been let go with their deals set to expire at the club, along with academy graduates Harvey Tomlinson, Edwin Essel, Aaron Braithwaite and Jamie Bramwell.

Loan players Liam Smith, Jamie Andrews, Harvey Cartwright, Harry Wood and Justin Obikwu have all returned to their parent clubs. As for new deals, the club have triggered the one-year extension clause in Kieran Green’s contract and are in ongoing discussion with Harry Clifton and Denver Hume over new terms.

READ MORE: Grimsby Town end season with defeat at Crawley who seal play-off place

Green included, Town currently have 13 first-team players under contract for the 2024/25 campaign, with Alex Hunt amongst them, having returned from his loan spell at National League club York City.

Aside from the aforementioned Green and Hunt - Jake Eastwood, Toby Mullarkey, Harvey Rodgers, Doug Tharme, Evan Khouri, Curtis Thompson, Charles Vernam, Donovan Wilson, Rekeil Pyke, Danny Rose and recent league debutant Cameron Gardner are all under contract for next term.

The club was expected to be ruthless when it came to out-of-contract players following the team's poor performance across the campaign, which ended with a 21st-place finish in League Two.

Whether all the contracted players for next term remain at the club past the summer transfer window remains to be seen, but David Artell has the space to fill in his squad now with players who he believes can properly fulfil the club’s new game model.

The club have let go of some names that have played a vital role in the club’s progression under the current ownership over the last couple of years, but difficult decisions had to be made to create room for fresh talent to come through the door this summer.

Town are already meeting with potential new signings, and Artell is being sent out to watch games further afield to prepare for any moves the club might want to make right out of the gate once the window opens at the start of June.

Chairman Jason Stockwood has already spoken about how the club is now aligned from the top down concerning recruitment and a preferred play style moving forward which should streamline the process.