Zak Whitbread and Aaron Wilbraham Released

The club announced this afternoon that first team players Zak Whitbread and Aaron Wilbraham are not to be offered new deals when their contracts expire. Academy players Matthew Ball, Richard Brindley and Josh Dawkin are also to be allowed to leave.

The biggest loss will be American defender Whitbread, who has played 48 times for the club since his arrival from Millwall in Janaury 2010. Whitbread clearly has the quality and at times oozes class, but has an indifferent injury record, barely featuring until January 2011, before slotting in and contributing impressively to our Championship promotion push.

Wilbraham has become a bit of a cult hero at the club since his arrival from MK Dons in January 2011. Although he only made 9 starts for the club (plus 19 substitute appearances), his tenacity and effort were roundly appreciated by the fans. An inspirational cameo against Manchester United, in which he made the corner for Holt`s goal is particularly memorable, as was his goal at Fulham this season (1 of only 2 goals).

They both seemed to be popular players at the club, liked by their peers and the management team. This was probably a very tough decision, but shows the club cannot put sentiment ahead of progress. Progress by the way, means that I presume that today's link to Wolves defender Roger Johnson has not an ounce of truth in it.

Zak and Wilbraham will be missed and we wish them well in their future careers.