JOSS Labadie wants to stay at Newport County AFC and sees no reason why promotion to League One can’t be achieved next season if the nucleus of the squad can be kept at Rodney Parade.

The midfielder’s contract, a short-term deal he signed last October after failing to agree terms in the summer following an ACL injury, is set to run out.

The same goes for the likes of Joe Day, Dan Butler, Mickey Demetriou, Mark O’Brien, Matty Dolan and Josh Sheehan, who all featured in Saturday’s League Two play-off final loss to Tranmere Rovers.

Speaking after his side’s painful 1-0 extra-time defeat, Labadie expressed his desire to remain an Exiles player.

When asked if he would like to be at County for the start of the 2019-20 campaign, he said: “We’ll see what the gaffer wants to do and hopefully it gets sorted as soon as possible.

“I mean everyone knows I love the club, it gave me another chance to come back.

“I love it here, and we’re going in the right direction.”

He added: “We’ve got a great bunch of lads, the best I’ve ever played with, and if the manager can keep the nucleus of the squad together there’s no reason why we can’t go one better next year.

“The gaffer said we should be really proud of our achievements this year because no-one expected us to get this far.

“We’ve gone from strength to strength since the gaffer has come in, from staying up with the last kick of the game against Notts County to a highest finish the year after and a play-off final this year.

“If you’d offered this to us at the start of the season most people would have snapped your hand off.”

Meanwhile, Demetriou reckons it is still too early to say what is going to happen with the current squad.

He said: “There are going to be meetings in the next couple of days.

“Everyone’s going to be talking, the gaffer’s going to have meetings with the chairman.

“Hopefully there will be chats soon because everybody wants to get it sorted now.

“I don’t know what’s going on, we’ll wait and see.

“I enjoy it here. I spoke to the gaffer plenty of times and he’s always said, ‘you want to be playing as high as you can’.

“I’ve always said that and it’s a shame we didn’t go up because it would have brought everyone closer together.

“We’re a close-knit bunch and the boys are distraught. We need to get over the emotions and see what the gaffer wants to do and who is he thinking of keeping.

“I don’t think he’s thinking of making wholesale changes.

“If people start signing then that will make other people sign as well.”

On manager Michael Flynn, he continued: “He’s taken us from fighting relegation to fighting for promotion.

“And that’s another thing, players won’t want to sign if he’s leaving.

“If they’re going to commit their future then they obviously need a bit of reassurance.

“It would have been nice if we’d got the manager into League One, but he’s an ambitious manager and hopefully he does stay.”