SOUTHEND United manager Paul Sturrock has already turned his attentions towards next season and avoiding further promotion heartache.

Sturrock’s side suffered a painful exit from the League Two play-offs at the hands of Crewe Alexandra last Wednesday.

But the Scotsman is now determined to go one better next year and get Blues back into League One.

“I’ve beaten myself up, slapped myself around the face and had talks with the chairman and chief executive but now it’s already the 2012/13 season in my head,” said Sturrock, 55.

“Of course I will be studying every single section of last season and look at all our matches and training because we probably peaked too early.

“We will also look at everything to try to do better and hope to bring in another four of five new players to help try and make that happen too.”

As a result, Sturrock is likely to head into the next campaign with a new-look squad having already decided to release 13 members of his current squad.

The first 11 of those were revealed in Friday’s Echosport and out-of-favour striker Matt Paterson and defender Pat Baldwin have now also been told they no longer have a future at Roots Hall.

That will free up more of the budget for Sturrock and he has also opened discussions with the club’s other out of contract players: Peter Gilbert, Anthony Grant, Barry Corr, Mark Phillips, Luke Prosser, Ryan Leonard, Jean-Paul Kalala and Liam Dickinson.

“I’ve sat down with them all, including the players with long-term injuries and spoken about what kind of terms they are looking for,” said Sturrock.

“I’ve got my budget now, which I won’t publicly reveal, but there are a number of free agents out there too, so it’s a case of going away and thinking everything over and deciding what’s best value for money.

“But because of how many players are available the power is coming back towards the clubs and I don’t think they are paying money out like they used to.”

Sturrock also revealed he had held talks with Bilel Mohsni, who has a year option on his current contract at the club which is likely to be activated.

And the Blues boss has also met with goalkeeper Cameron Belford, striker Freddy Eastwood and left-back Lee Hills who all ended the season on loan with his team.

“I’ve spoken to Cameron and he wants to stay and I’ve spoken with Lee and Freddy about their wage demands too so they’re in the same situation as the players we’ve had all season,” said Sturrock. “So there’s certainly plenty to be thinking about.”

FULL THREE PAGE INTERVIEW IN MONDAY'S ECHO