Different budget plans have been discussed with owners, Football Ventures, for both eventualities, be it Championship or League One football.

Should Bolton fail to go all the way this month then there are also signs that Ian Evatt will be given licence to push on and build on a squad that has evolved in each of his three seasons so far, with automatic promotion the next aim.

But what for the seven players out of contract at the University of Bolton Stadium this summer?

The club has put any negotiations on hold while full focus is placed on the run-in, which will hopefully end in a return to Wembley.

We check out the first team players whose deal runs out this summer, and what factors could come into play when thinking about a renewal.

MJ Williams – This current run, either as a central midfielder or a centre-half, has come at a great time for the Liverpudlian, who must have wondered what the future held at the start of the year.

A clean out operation on his knee in January seems to have worked a treat, and his performances over the last month to help negate a defensive injury crisis and see Wanderers into the play-offs have been encouraging to see.

Williams proved a big signing in the January of the League Two promotion season and has always been Evatt’s go-to man when a bit of physicality is needed. Proving he has more than one string to his bow cannot do his chances of a new deal any harm whatsoever.

Josh Sheehan – Side-lined by a serious knee injury in his first season with Bolton, the former Newport playmaker always knew it would be a long road back.

Sheehan has steadily built himself back into the sort of form we saw at the very start of his time with the Whites, and his winner against Shrewsbury last month felt like a pivotal moment in that comeback.

As with a few of the other out-of-contract stars it could boil down to which division Wanderers are playing in next season. Sheehan has already nudged into the international scene with Wales, however, so you wonder whether he could be worth a bet either way?