Mandroiu & Bishop likely to leave Lincoln - Skubala

Teddy Bishop and Danny Mandroiu both featured in Michael Skubala's first game in charge of Lincoln City in November 2023

Midfielders Danny Mandroiu and Teddy Bishop are unlikely to feature again for Lincoln City after the collapse of contract negotiations, says Imps boss Michael Skubala.

The out-of-contract pair have failed to agree new terms with the League One club.

Mandroiu, 25, has scored 14 goals in 56 league appearances since joining them from Irish side Shamrock Rovers in the summer of 2022.

Bishop, 27, arrived at the LNER Stadium a year earlier from Ipswich Town and has made 112 appearances and scored 15 goals across all competitions for the club.

"I’ll never say never, because the door isn’t closed on anybody in that situation, but let's be fair, it's probably unlikely to see them in a Lincoln shirt again," Skubala told BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

The 41-year-old Lincoln head coach praised both players for the impact they made after he took the helm in November.

And while the former Leeds Under-21 head coach was keen to keep them, he said the club could not press on with efforts to keep them.

"Teddy and Danny were fantastic for me, they are fantastic footballers," Skubala said.

"But even when you want to keep them you can't always keep them and there comes a point where negotiations break down, because it doesn’t matter who you are there is a structure in the club that the club can't break, even for me.

"No-one is bigger than the club and and eventually that [contract talks] might have broken down."

Lincoln have already signed two midfielders this summer, with Tom Bayliss arriving after Conor McGrandles re-signed for the club earlier in June.