GARY Bowyer will not allow City’s squad to become bloated again next season.

Thirty-seven different players appeared for the club’s three managers during last term’s relegation.

The squad list for the final League One game against Wimbledon featured 39 names – nine more than their opponents.

Bowyer released 11 out-of-contract players last week and will look to move on others before the start of next term as part of his summer rebuild.

He admits it is not healthy to allow numbers to grow so big.

Bowyer said: “You look at the players that have gone and the number of loans that have gone back. You’re still left with a big number of players.

“Obviously, that’s something we’ve got to deal with. But we’ve got to cut our cloth accordingly now with picking the right types to come in.

“I think it’s important you don’t have too big a squad because of the team spirit you want to generate. You want a tight-knit group that will go out fighting for each other.

“If you’ve got too many numbers, it can become difficult to create that togetherness.

“But I don’t want anybody who doesn’t want to be here.”

Bowyer is determined to get the right mix in personnel as he prepares to put his own stamp on the squad.

He added: “It’s about using the resources that will be made available to us budget-wise properly and bringing players in that get the right blend of experience, pace and power and some youthful enthusiasm.

“I think that it’s important for a club that you have assets as well.

“At Blackburn, we brought in Rudy Gestede, Tom Cairney and Shane Duffy for good bargains and then sold them for a massive profit.

“We did a similar sort of thing at Blackpool where we worked with Brad Potts and Bright Osayi-Samuel and sold them to the Championship.

“Judging by some of the individual performances at Blackpool last season, they’ve got a couple of others that will certainly generate interest – and I want to do that here.”