Kendal Town boss Chris Humphrey fears clubs may be ready to swoop for some of his promising players.
Humphrey was unable to keep hold of centre-back Louis Jeanne during the week as he made the move to Clitheroe.
He said: “Clitheroe put in seven days notice and then we lost him, which was a blow as we are trying to put together a settled centre-back pairing.
“They can’t put in another seven days to us for nearly a month but we’ve heard they are interested in another member of our squad. I am sure that other clubs are monitoring some of our players.
“I’m afraid it’s something we have to live with as we are not in a position to put players on contracts.”
Kendal remain next to bottom after suffering their heaviest defeat of the season yesterday at home to Trafford, going down 5-1.
Humphrey said: “I’m afraid we just had some of the team who weren’t at the races. We can’t afford to have that against anyone, especially a team like Trafford who pass the ball around so well.
“Our young goalkeeper Oliver Lombard wasn’t to blame. He might possibly look at himself over one of them but he’s a good kid.
“We send a video of each game to the Preston goalkeeping coach for him to analyse with Oliver and we are hoping to be able to keep him for the rest of the season.”
Kendal take a welcome mid-week breather, with no game, but are back in action next Saturday at Parkside Road when they host Yorkshire Amateurs in the second qualifying round of the FA Trophy.
The opposition are at the same level as Kendal, playingin NPL East and will also be going into the game on the back of conceding five goals. They lost 5-0 at leaders Liversedge to sit ninth in the table with 13 points from ten games – including one win and five defeats on their travels.