TEARS have now dried since the crushing disappointment of the weekend for Wanderers fans and it has been back to business for Dougie Freedman as he plans the next step.

The Whites boss has already hinted this may well be a summer of change at the Reebok.

But unlike the situation faced by his predecessor Owen Coyle last summer, he does not have a succession of contracts that are running low to wipe the slate clean.

At this stage of last year, we were speculating that a dozen or so players could be allowed to leave for nothing after relegation – and though full-back Marcos Alonso remains the one unsolved issue as the senior players prepare to leave for a three-month break, there is far less uncertainty around the club as they pick up the pieces of a failed promotion bid.

Kevin Davies bid goodbye to the Reebok after 10 years following the 2-2 draw with Blackpool on Saturday but was told back in March his contract would not be renewed.

A handful of the younger professionals out of contract this summer – Alex McQuade, Joe McKee, Adam Blakeman, Jack Sampson and Lewis Fielding – have also been released this week.

However, Freedman is happy with the situation he currently finds himself in, some 88 days before the Championship campaign kicks-off again in earnest.

“I think it is an advantage that the players understand,” he said. “But come on what do contracts mean these days? You’re on a roll then within two minutes no-one fancies you.

“I have already indicated that certain players who have left are not the future for Bolton and I don’t think anyone else is up for contract.

“Apart from that I think everyone else is under contract and I’m quite happy about that.

“Naturally, there will be movement this summer. I will bring in one or two players, not just to boost the squad, but because you’ve got to do that to ensure players do not become too comfortable.

“Naturally, that might lead to one or two players leaving us but, until such a time, I think the situation we are in is better than having 10 players out of contract like last year because then I wouldn’t have a day off in the summer!”

Alonso looks a good bet to move on after coming to the end of his three-year deal.

The former Real Madrid full-back, bought for a reported £2.3million by Coyle the summer of 2010, has attracted interest from Swansea City and Stoke City in the Premier League and Fiorentina in Italy’s Serie A and would command a small fee, shared with Real, if he were to sign elsewhere because he is only 22.

Freedman feels he has improved the stylish defender since he gave him a regular starting spot and is hoping a second offer made to him in March will be accepted.

“We’ve made an offer to Marcos that I think is responsible in terms of the club’s money,” he said. “If he is going to take that then fantastic. I think he is a good young man. He’s a headstrong young man and no matter what his agent and his dad says, I think Marcos makes the decisions.

“He will make his own decision and that might not suit us. He might go somewhere else.”

Marcos Alonso was voted Wanderers’ player of the year by online readers of The Bolton News last week.

The full-back pipped Jay Spearing to the award with 37 per cent of the vote, to Spearing’s 33.