Mark Wotte has been given a resounding vow of commitment by his squad for next season’s League One campaign – but the club have released Rudi Skacel and Ryan Smith.

Another out of contract pair, Jason Euell and Bradley Wright-Phillips, have been told they may have a future with the club but will have to wait to see whether they will be offered new contracts on vastly reduced terms.

Marek Saganowski is still under contract but has told Wotte he wishes to leave but the rest of the Saints squad have said they will not actively be seeking moves elsewhere this summer, which is a huge boost to the club and the head coach whose own future is up in the air.

He said: “Even now I am just hoping for an opportunity to help this club go up again because nobody wants to leave a club after relegation.

“That is exactly what the players told me yesterday, even some young players who are being watched by other clubs.

“They said ‘for one thing I didn’t want to go and sit on a bench and for two I don’t want to leave this club in League One because we have to bring this club back into the Championship.’ “That was really touching, I was really impressed by a lot of boys wanting to stay.

“I am not only talking about Kelvin Davis or JP Saeijs but Adam Lallana, Andrew Surman, David McGoldrick, Lloyd James – they all want to stay to help this club get back.

“Those meetings were encouraging.

“Of course if there is a big club offering a player £10,000 or £15,000 a week and we have financial problems then we might lose one or two players.

“But in general everybody said they were actually looking forward to playing in League One to win as many matches as possible to get back in the Championship.”

Czech Republic international Skacel was initially a much trumpeted signing when he arrived from Hearts for £1.6m in 2006 but failed to really settle.

He renegotiated his contract last summer in the wake of turning down a move to Ipswich to ensure it would end this summer and has left the club of his own accord.

Smith was a gamble of a signing from Millwall with his initial loan spell being made permanent earlier in the season but he hasn’t managed to bring to the pitch the “world class” talents Wotte felt he had and so he has been released.

“We will not extend the contracts of Rudi Skacel or Ryan Smith,” confirmed Wotte.

“Bradley Wright-Phillips and Jason Euell we cannot extend their contracts because we are not in a position to do that.

“When there is a new situation we keep an open mind.

“They can sign for another club because they are out of contract, we might offer them a new contract if the financial situation allows us to but they will have to accept a lesser salary."

For full story and more Saints news, don't miss today's Daily Echo.