WREXHAM manager Denis Smith is optimistic he will keep the majority of his squad together following positive news this week off the pitch.

The removal of obstacles preventing the sale of the club to the local consortium led by former director Neville Dickens means the takeover should be completed within a month and the Dragons boss has been in touch with as many players as possible.

"I've spoken to a few of the lads and their reaction has been very positive," he said. "The overall reaction seems to be that they are not keen on moving anywhere else if there is a future for them here at this club.

"They are an honest bunch of lads and I have to believe them, but until they have put pen to paper on contracts, we can never be sure.

"What I've said to them is that it is practically impossible for anything to go wrong now in terms of the takeover because Mr Hamilton has gone and the deal is being done.

"As for the other players I can't get hold of yet, I don't know why they have mobile phones because they never seem to answer them, but we'll persevere and speak to everyone at some stage."

The bullish Racecourse boss said Wrexham was now a better bet than many other lower league clubs.

"You only have to look at how many clubs are seeking new managers at the present time," he added. "Players who sign for one manager this month might find another manager in place by the time pre-season training gets under way.

"I've only been at Wrexham for four years, but I wouldn't mind betting I'm one of the longest-serving managers in the bottom two divisions, which is crazy.

"Every vacancy attracts hundreds of applications, but the reality is that there are only so many people who can do the job. And the first thing to learn as a manager is that we are all dead men walking.

"There's even speculation that Kenny Jack-ett is under pressure at Swansea because they didn't win the play-off final. That's plain crazy, but it's all part of the idiotic football world in which we have to work."

Smith, currently working without a contract at Wrexham and speculatively linked with hometown club Stoke City in recent weeks, volunteered the information he was visiting the Britannia Stadium yesterday afternoon.

He then revealed he was attending the launch of a new autobiography by former Stoke team-mate Gordon Banks.

* THE rate at which football managers are being dismissed is accelerating, according to research published yesterday by Warwick Business School.

The number of dismissals rose to 40 last season, compared to 34 over the same period 12 months before.

John Barnwell, chief executive of the League Managers Association, said: "There is a major concern that the average life expectancy of a manager at a football club has fallen dramatically from 2.7 years in 1992 to 1993 to 1.8 years last season.

"Stability is invariably the key to success in any industry and football is no different."