JOHN Askey’s rebuilding job is under way, with two players rejoining for another campaign.

Goalkeeper Ritchie Branagan and defender Dan Cowan have become Askey’s first signings of the summer – another is set to commit to the club and offers are on the table for several more members of last season’s squad.

And Askey has also agreed a new rolling contract with Macclesfield Town’s owner Amar Alkadhi.

“I’m happy to have got that security, I see it as an acknowledgement of what we were able to achieve last year,” he said.

“Obviously I understand the situation at the club, it was never a case of holding the club to ransom – there wouldn’t be any point at all in trying to do that!”

With both manager and owner abroad nothing has been signed but Askey – whose affiliation with Macclesfield Town is now secure as it enters a fourth decade – is keen to get his assistant Efe Sodje also contracted so the pair, who led the Silkmen to mid-table on a meagre budget last season, can busy themselves with an even more testing task.

“Hopefully we’ll get Efe sorted very soon too,” added Askey. “Then I can get on with the business of putting a squad together.

“Paul Lewis has agreed a deal and a lot of the lads I’ve spoken to from last year I’ve offered deals, whether they’ll decide they can accept them we’ll have to wait and see.

“It’s not going to be easy, if anything it’ll be even more difficult than last season. I’d describe the budget this year as about half of what we had last season, so staying in the Conference would be a real achievement.”