Darlington manager Dave Penney has warned that some crowd favourites could be among those he reveals today as surplus to requirements.

Penney has long promised to oversee a major clear out in the summer and today is the day of destiny for players not already sure of their future.

Of the 29-man squad that he had at his disposal in the closing weeks of the season, four were on loan and seven have already been told there is no future for them at the club.

Seven have a year remaining on their existing deals - Tim Ryan, Patrick Collins, Micky Cummins, Martin Smith, Gregg Blundell, Tommy Wright and Julian Joachim.

That leaves him with ten out of contract which includes all three goalkeepers - Lee Jones, Sam Russell and David Stockdale - as well as captain Clark Keltie and recently-crowned player of the year Neil Wainwright. The others are Kevin Burgess, Ricky Ravenhill, Mark McLeod, David Rowson and Gaetano Giallanza.

He has only seven players under contract for another year and most of them will remain at the 96.6TFM Darlington Arena, but Penney expects some fans to be upset when he announces who is to go.

"At every club people moan at whatever happens, that's football," said Penney, who hopes to make three signings as soon as possible. "Players will get released in the summer that were favourites and they will moan, that's football.

"As a manager I have just got to deal with it. You have to be thick-skinned in this job."

Penney treated the closing weeks of the season as an opportunity for those on loan and with expiring contracts to play themselves to a new deal, but not many were successful.

Quakers won just two of the their last eight games, scoring just seven goals and losing the final game 5-0 at home to Stockport County on Saturday.

Penney admitted: "Five or six games ago there were still players that we hadn't made our minds up over so we said we would monitor them.

"Some have come through with flying colours but the majority didn't.

"Those that are being offered contracts will be told on Tuesday and I will be negotiating with them and their agent to see if they are staying.

"Because even if I offer contracts there's no guarantee they are going to stay, they might had had offers from elsewhere, they might not like the offer I make, so there's a lot of ifs and buts, even with the people that are staying.

"We've let a lot go already since I came here and there'll certainly be a few more going so it's going to be a big turn over and it always was going to be."

Former Sunderland midfielder Sean Thornton has been released by Doncaster. The Irishman was signed by Penney for Rovers in 2005.