Mansfield Town want to attract League One-standard players this summer - David Sharpe

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit clubs in the pocket as they were unable to generate revenue from the final league games of the season.

It is expected that a number of sides higher up the pyramid will now tighten the purse strings, which could lead to the trimming of squads and out-of-contract players having to drop down the divisions.

That is something manager Graham Coughlan will be keen to exploit as he prepares for his first full season with Town.

"Where there's a problem there's also an opportunity in my opinion," new Stags director of football David Sharpe told the club’s website.

"With Graham wanting to put his own stamp on the squad we’ve got to use that situation. There's going to be a lot of players out of contract this summer who may usually get contracts in League One. That situation might be different now."

Sharpe, the grandson of former Latics owner David Whelan, became the youngest chairman in the history of English football at the age of 23.

Now, aged 29, he was unveiled him as the club’s director of football last Wednesday.

After studying business management at university, Sharpe worked at Wigan from an early age, before being appointed as a director in 2014, being named chairman in 2015.

Under his tenure, the Latics won two League One titles, reached the FA Cup quarter-finals and accrued a significant net profit on player sales.

While the coronavirus crisis may help the Stags bolster their playing squad, work continues behind the scenes to make sure the club is in good shape for when football can return.

"How can we come through this stronger and better?" Sharpe asked.

"I believe that all the work we'll do between now and when the new season starts - we don’t know when, and even if this current season will still resume, that's still not clear - there'll be lots of work behind the scenes to make sure we don’t leave anything unturned and we're fully ready and Graham's happy with everything he's got in place."(Then we can) go into a new season, new era, with plenty of positivity and look towards a bright future.”

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