PHIL Brown wants Southend United’s out of contract players to remain realistic with their wage demands.

Blues remain in talks with Elvis Bwomono, Jason Demetriou, Timothee Dieng, Sam Hart, Ricky Holmes and Greg Halford.

But the Shrimpers will be standing firm on their offers. “There’s one or two who are proving hard to get over the line and it’s because how unreasonable they’ve been,” said Brown.

“When I say unreasonable it’s because some of them have been in back to back relegations, not just one.

“I need to take that into consideration and take it on its merits.

“Not everyone can come in and demand a wage or a rise because they’ve done well for me for five or six games.

“I think it’s going to be a reality check.

“We’re in the fifth tier and we’ve got stop the ship sinking and make it float again.

“That will take frugal behaviour, good decision making and strong decision making too.

“If that means some players have got to leave us then so be it.”