STUART McCall intends to make up his mind by Christmas on the City players out of contract at the end of the season.

Stephen Darby, James Hanson, James Meredith, Rory McArdle, Filipe Morais, Tony McMahon and Mark Marshall are among those whose present Valley Parade deals are up next summer.

McCall is well aware that a clutch of established names could be affected and is comfortable with the situation. It is something he plans to address by the halfway stage of the campaign.

"We discussed it prior to the window (shutting) but decided to get that out of the way before thinking about it," said the Bantams boss.

"We'll sit down and have a look at things between now and Christmas time because there are a lot. But you tend to get that nowadays. It was the same at Motherwell.

"Every two years, we'd have eight (contracts) up and then the following summer it would be the ones who we had signed in between. It's like a set time."

City are unlikely to rush into talks until the season is well underway and risk potentially rocking the boat.

"We are aware of it and I would imagine we'll start making decisions just prior to Christmas, once we've had 20 games or so under our belt," said McCall.

"You're in a better position to judge things then and see what we think. Get to Christmas time and you've still got another four or five months

"I can't be any happier with the way the lads have gone about their business up to now.

"We inherited some very good pros and they have worked ever so hard, along with the ones we've brought in. I just want us to continue how we're doing."