Oxford United boss Ian Atkins says he will not be making wholesale changes to his squad over the summer months.

But he has reiterated that the club must be positive in the transfer market if they want to establish themselves as one of the Division 3 promotion favourites next season.

Atkins admits he has already drawn up a list of potential targets, but says that nothing will happen until he has spoken to those players whose contracts expire this month.

And he is waiting for an indication of just how much money he has to spend from chairman Firoz Kassam.

Four of United's squad - Steve Basham, David Oldfield, Bobby Ford and Roy Hunter - are no longer being paid and are free agents after their deals ran out at the weekend.

A further four - Andy Scott, Paul Powell, Ian McCaldon and Dave Savage - have only weeks left before their contracts expire.

Atkins says he knows what he would like to happen, but would not commit himself to making those decisions public just yet.

"We will start talking to the players very shortly," he said. "But with the Bosman ruling and everything else in the game now, it's the players who will dictate if they want to stay or not, really.

"One thing about our squad though, is that we do not need to make wholesale changes, but we do need to be very positive in what we do.

"Division 3 is going to be one hell of a league next year because the teams coming into it are all going to spend.

"Huddersfield are a big club, Northampton will spend big because they are sorting everything out behind the scenes, Yeovil will spend, and Mansfield and Cheltenham are no mugs either."