The new era at Macclesfield is under way with 16 senior first-team players released.

The club’s retained list – unveiled on Monday –may have disheartened many fans, with popular midfielders Lewis Chalmers and Matty Hamshaw among those leaving the Moss Rose.

Player-of-the-Year Jose Veiga, who spoke of his desire to stay at Macclesfield, has also been released.

Club captain Paul Morgan missed all but a handful of games for the Silkmen during the last campaign and he has also been released, along with Dwayne Mattis, whose only appearance came in a midweek match at Wimbledon.

Mattis, who captained Chesterfield during their title-winning 2009/10 season, played around an hour of his debut and marked the occasion with a goal before an ankle injury curtailed his season.

The full list of released players is: Michael Bakare, Jon Bateson, Lewis Chalmers, Steve Collis, Jack Cudworth, Greg Daniels, Tom Fisher, Matty Hamshaw, Scott Kay, Jack Lane, Dwayne Mattis, Paul Morgan, Vinny Mukendi, Adam Roberts, Michael Thomas and Jose Veiga.

Five youth team players have also been let go – Jay Burgess, Ryan Meredith, George Robertson, Jordan Trinci-Lyne and Jake Vernon.

Still under 24, key midfielder Ross Draper has been offered a new contract to stay at the club. Should the former Hednesford man decide the leave, a fee will be payable due to his age.

The rest of the first-team squad are currently under contract and, with incoming manager Steve King yet to make any decisions on their future, will be expected to report for pre-season training in July.

They are: James Bolton, Nat Brown, Colin Daniel, Tony Diagne, Waide fairhurst, Elliott Hewitt, Arnaud Mendy, Andrew Mills, Ben Mills, Ben Tomlinson, Carl Tremarco and Sam Wedgbury.

The youth players being retained are: Matt Dolan, Matt Harris, Tim Hughes, Kieorn Kenny, Patrick Kilburn, Liam Leary, Paul Lewis, Niall Rhodes, Darnell Smith, Thomas Stott and Joel Swift.