MARK Wright is bracing himself for a hectic close-season after finally pledging his long-term future to Chester City.

The Blues boss ended three weeks of speculation yesterday by confirming that he had shaken hands with club chairman Stephen Vaughan over a two-year deal.

Wright has been working at Chester since February on non-contract terms, guiding the club from the jaws of relegation to mid-table respectability in League Two.

The 42-year-old had been stalling on signing the deal offered to him last month by Vaughan but, with the matter now resolved, Wright is ready to shake up City's first-team squad this summer.

The Chester boss promised: 'New players will be arriving here. Major, major surgery needs to be done but you've got be to very careful.

'If you want certain players, you can't wait round for them.

'You've got to be tying them up very quickly, otherwise they can go to other places.'

Wright knows there is plenty of hard work to be done, particularly after learning this week that skipper Stewart Drummond has turned down the offer of a new contract and will quit the club this summer.

In a cruel twist of fate for City fans, the 30-year-old is expected to sign for bitter rivals Shrews-bury Town, who visit the Saunders Honda Stadium tomorrow for the final game of the season.

Only three players regularly involved in Chester's first team squad are under contract for next season - Dave Artell, Gregg Blundell and Stephen Vaughan junior.

Keeper Wayne Brown, currently on loan at Hereford, also has a further year left on his deal, and the same applies to out-of-favour striker Michael Branch, whose Blues future appears bleak following a fall-out with Wright.

Midfielder Ben Davies and keeper Chris MacKenzie have been in talks over new deals and Vaughan told supporters at a fans' forum on Wednesday night that both players could be signed on 'in the next few days'.

Wright is likely to miss tomorrow's clash with Shrews-bury in order to scout transfer targets for next season elsewhere.

He chose to go on a scouting mission to the Wrexham v Oxford United match last Saturday, leaving the first team in the hands of coaches Kelham O'Hanlon and Joe Hinnigan for the visit to Northampton Town.

The Blues boss is glad to have cleared up his long-term future and yesterday paid tribute to chairman Vaughan for putting his faith in him.

Wright's first spell with Chester ended abruptly in 2004 when he walked out following a row with Vaughan, but that did not stop the chairman from handing the former England defender a second crack at the job in February - just weeks after his acrimonious exit from Peterborough.

'I'm really, really pleased we've got something sorted out,' said Wright. 'What Chester needed was some sort of stability on the manager's side. To get some stability with me means we can start building and looking to the future.

'I owed Stephen Vaughan a little bit because he was the one who brought me back here.

'With what went on at Peter-borough, a lot of people wouldn't have done anything until that situation was resolved.'