Promotion from National League / Contracts

[Freddy Guarin]

Now I know that when a semi-pro team is promoted from the National League to League Two they will automatically turn pro, but I was just wondering what happens with the players on semi-pro contracts.

Do these automatically become professional, or do you have to offer new ones on professional terms? And if a player has only signed a new semi-pro deal in March/April, would they renegotiate a professional one as early as June in the event of promotion?

I'm currently top of the National League with a semi-pro team in September, and I'd like to be able to plan ahead for if I do get promoted, as I'd like to have key players tied down as soon as possible without any nasty surprises.

[Scotty Walds]

You have to offer them new contract to convert them over to full-time, which you can only do once you actually convert to professional. They are normally very willing to renew (at higher wage) to full time soon after.

[phnompenhandy]

My club turned professional today. It was less than a week before all the players came buzzing in to get their new full-time contracts.

[MarkFB]

I kept a number on part time contracts and it didn’t seem to make much difference as I still managed to win League 2 with a mix of full time and part time contracted players and staff.

[Freddy Guarin]

Cheers for the advice, all. I think I'll probably offer my key players new part-time contracts around January and then look to offer pro deals in the summer if I'm fortunate enough to go up.