WE HAVE been resigned at TCS Chester Jets for some time to losing John Mc-Cord at the end of the season, so the BBL's decision to reduce the quota of non-national players from five per team to four from next season is going to have minimum impact on us.

This means that at least six players per team must be eligible to play for the national team under FIBA rules, and this move has been taken by the BBL to help support the Commonwealth Games programme.

Basketball is being included in the Games for the first time in Melbourne in 2006 and Sheffield Sharks coach Peter Scantlebury has been appointed to take charge of the England team at the event.

I have already said I would have liked to keep the present squad for next season, but I am already expecting McCord to play in Europe where he can earn so much more money.

John is our best and most popular player and will obviously be missed, but his impending departure for pastures new removes one potential problem when recruiting time comes along.

The new regulation is going to put a new value on the heads of the good English players in the game - and the best English players are also good enough to play in Europe.

In my opinion, the best English player in the BBL this season is Philip Perre, of Scottish Rocks, who joined them from Brighton Bears around Christmas.

We tried to sign him for the Jets last summer and again before he moved to Glasgow, but it wasn't to be.

We have already started to negotiate with players for next season and, ideally, I would like to get my roster completed as soon as possible, which was always something my predecessor, Robbie Peers, tried to do.

It is a fact of life, though, that my current squad will undoubtedly have overtures from elsewhere and they will need time to consider their options, but as far as I am concerned, the sooner it is sorted the better.

Our regular season is now over and this weekend we look forward to the quarter-finals of the BBL Champion-ship Play-offs.

Unfortunately, despite winning three games in a row, we just failed to finish in the top four, which would have given us a home match.

Instead, we make the long trip to Glasgow on Sunday to take on the holders Scottish Rocks.

It is a tough task but I am very happy with our recent form and, at last, everyone is almost 100% fit.