George Burley's great 2006 Saints revolution could see him shed a third of his squad this summer - for nothing.

The new Saints head coach has been in the process of assessing the players he has at his disposal and deciding which ones will play a part in his rebuilding plans and which are surplus to requirements.

But Saints have a staggering THIRTEEN players out of contract at the end of this season - and risk losing them all for NOTHING if they don't secure their services soon.

In fact, of Burley's first team squad, only Nigel Quashie, Paul Smith, Dexter Blackstock and new Polish keeper Bartosz Bialkowski have contracts taking them through to 2008!

The players out of contract include experienced quartet Michael Svensson, Rory Delap, Matthew Oakley and Brett Ormerod - who all played a major role in the superb 2002/03 campaign under Gordon Strachan.

Injury prone Latvian striker Marian Pahars is also out of contract - and he will need to continue scoring goals like he did on his reserve comeback against West Ham on Tuesday if he wants to win another deal at St Mary's.

Also out of contract is young defender Matthew Mills, who has yet to sign the new deal he has been offered amid speculation linking him with a move to Manchester City where ex Saints academy director Steve Wigley is reserve manager.

Chris Baird, who is currently enjoying his best run ever in the Saints first team, is another whose future needs sorting out - and the Northern Ireland international is one player who has yet to be offered new terms.

Apart from the British contingent at St Mary's out of contract, foreign trio Kamil Kosowski, Tomasz Hajto and Djamel Belmadi will also have their St Mary's futures decided this summer.

Kosowski, who has been injured ever since Burley arrived at the club, is only on a season-long loan from German club Kaiterslauten while Bemadi's one-year deal ends in the summer.

Though Hajto's contract is also up, the club do have the option of signing the former Polish international skipper for another year.

Kenwyne Jones' student visa runs out this summer - at a time when he will be hoping to impress the world while playing for Trinidad & Tobago in the World Cup finals in Germany - and, due to regulations, so does his contract.

If Saints want to offer him a new deal, they will have to apply for a full work permit - and, as he has now played enough international matches to qualify, that shouldn't be a problem if Burley decides to keep him.

Jason St Juste, who starred for Darlington last season before arriving at Saints in a blaze of publicity as a Brazilian Soccer Schools disciple of former coach Simon Clifford, also sees his one-year deal expire this summer.

As it stands, he looks unlikely to be offered another contract as he has yet to figure in any first team squad.

Youngster Eddie Anaclet, currently on loan at FA Cup heroes and Conference strugglers Tamworth, is also out of contract.

Scottish international Neil McCann was also out of contract this summer but he was released earlier this week.

He was the second high profile player to have his contract cancelled by mutual consent this season following Fabrice Fernandes' move to Bolton back in the summer.

Chairman Rupert Lowe will have to start work on contract negotiations with the players he wants to keep shortly to avoid losing them.

Agents will be seeking advice on whether their clients have any chance of being offered a new deal - because, if not, they can start to make their names known to other clubs.

If any player does reject any new terms offered, they can instantly leave for nothing in the summer.

That is the scenario facing Saints with Mills, and the club may have to accept a fee for him this month - £250,000 has been mentioned in reports - or risk the above situation hitting them hard.

For so many contracts to be up at the same time is an unusual occurrence at Saints.

Last season only Jason Dodd, Graeme Le Saux and Jamie Redknapp fell into that category, and it was well known the latter two would almost certainly retire if Saints went down.

In 2004 only Baird, Dodd and Paul Telfer were out of contract amongst well-known professionals at the club while, in 2003, Saints failed to offer Kevin Davies a new deal and he promptly joined Bolton.