May 11 2007

Michael Hughes

Peter Taylor has wielded the axe at Crystal Palace by releasing Michael Hughes, Danny Granville and Tommy Black.

Taylor, who had already chopped Gabor Kiraly, has also only offered reduced terms to out of contract striker Dougie Freedman, who may now look elsewhere for a new deal.

The Eagles boss is hopeful Gary Borrowdale, whose contract expires this summer, will sign an improved deal after the defender rejected Palace’s first offer.

“They are never easy decisions to take but it is one of the problems of losing the parachute payments,” Taylor said. “It means you can’t match their terms and that makes them free agents.”

Taylor fears he will be deluged with bids for the likes of Jobi McAnuff and Ben Watson this summer and added: “It wouldn’t surprise me if I got a few calls from other managers.

“I think we’ve got very good players here so if I was manager of a Championship or Premiership club I might be think they could do well.

“If we got a massive offer then maybe we would talk about it. But I wouldn’t want to lose any of the players from the team that finished on Sunday against Colchester."