City are ready to step up their plans for next season’s team – and try to steal a march on those sides with pressing issues still to be decided.

With two games left and their position secure, Phil Parkinson can afford to concentrate on the summer rebuild that the fans are expecting.

Contracts and potential player targets will be top of the agenda at his routine meeting with the board this week.

With so many deals up in the dressing room, Parkinson has plenty to think about as he plots their second year back in League One.

James Hanson, Aaron Mclean and Andrew Davies are the only regular first-teamers currently still tied to the club beyond June.

Parkinson said: “We don’t want to take our focus away from Saturday and the last home game but now we are safe we can use these next few weeks wisely.

“We’ve got an advantage now over teams who are either in the play-offs or have things to play for. Those teams have got to be concentrating more on what they are doing at this moment.

“We found that last year. We’ve got to use that to our advantage.

“Although I’ve been focusing very much on the games, of course we’ve been watching players, speaking to agents over the last few months and checking out the availability of people for next season. That’s what we’ve got to do now.”

The bulk of the present squad were signed in 2012 – a recruitment process that was rewarded with one of the best seasons in City history.

The shortened break after Wembley 12 months ago saw far less movement and the players that did come in have all struggled to make their mark. Parkinson anticipates a more hectic period this time around – with some tough decisions to be made.

“Last year was a quiet summer because we had the core of players and wanted to go into the new season and give them a chance at this level. I felt they’d deserved that.

“We’ll sit back and assess everything. We want to finish the last two games in good spirits and then hopefully make sure we’re stronger next year.”