ROSS Jenkins is to hold talks with his Oxford City players this week as he prepares for his first transfer window as a boss.

The 31-year-old was named head coach at the Hoops in March, and guided the club to a Vanarama National League South play-off place after David Oldfield left for Weymouth in January.

City’s 2-0 win against Eastbourne Borough in the play-off eliminator was followed up with a 3-0 defeat in the semi-final against Dorking Wanderers, and Jenkins is eager to keep the core of his squad together.

Of the set of players who ended the campaign, 11 have been at Court Place Farm for the last two seasons.

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“The main thing in the off-season is looking at what we can retain first,” said Jenkins.

“There’s no point going out and looking for targets and you’ve got three players in one position.

“It’s important we retain what we want first, the good players that have glued us together.

“Some boys need to depart and get some minutes and that’s fine, but if we can keep the core together and add a few gems, I think we’ll be okay.”

Ben Dudzinski and Josh Ashby, both 26, will almost certainly be on the radar of opposition clubs after their performances for City earned them places in the National League South team of the season, while several other players will be attracting admiring glances.

Jenkins admitted as much, stressing the importance of keeping and building on key personnel already at the club.

“It’s going to be hard to keep our group together because there’s a lot of interest in our players,” he said.

“The main thing this week and next is looking at what we can retain.

“Hopefully there’s a good bunch of boys we can retain and we build around it.

“We haven’t got actual positions we want to fill right now, we’re having discussions this week before everyone shoots off on holiday.

“It’s important we look at what we’ve got first before looking at targets.

“We’ve got a good squad here and I’d love to retain a lot of it.”

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As the club continues its journey to becoming full-time, Jenkins said money would not be the key to retaining players this summer.

He said: “I don’t think it’s finances, but what we’ve got is a group of boys who are ambitious.

“They all want to progress and the progression sometimes outweighs finances.

“I think some boys want to move up in their career, which is fine.

“Some boys are at their level, some boys want to stay because they love the club.

“Everyone’s got different motivations and I don’t care what that is, because if you sign for Oxford City, then you’re dedicated to the football club and give everything. We’ve got a week to settle the ship and see what we’ve got.”

Having been left without a club close to a new season starting, Jenkins knows the importance of informing players on their futures as soon as possible.

“I’ll let the boys know early if they’re not going to feature as much, so they can find something themselves,” he said.

“As a player, I’ve been left to the last week in pre-season once, and it didn’t help me as I was scrambling for another club.”