Jack Rea is poised to sign Bucks deal

Busy midfielder Rea is due at the Bucks Head tonight to thrash out a minor detail with assistant manager Larry Chambers before signing a new one-year contract.

Manager Rob Smith and Chambers thought Rea was going to reject a deal and they had lined up Gittings to bolster the central midfield.

But the 24-year-old ball-winner will join James Montgomery, Dwayne Samuels, Darren Campion, Lucas Dawson, Josh Wilson, Dave Hibbert and Zak Lilly as signed up for next season, plus new faces James Hurst, Ben Bailey, Dan Preston and Lee Fowler.

"I've spoken to Rob and it's pretty much a done deal that I'm going to stay," said Rea.

"I'm going to the club tonight to speak to Larry and iron a few things out and hopefully we can get it done.

"It's just the one thing which I'm hoping to get sorted – it's not a big deal – but hopefully if that's alright then we can tie it up.

"When I signed I was travelling in with the likes of Johnny Gorman, Greg Wilkinson, Kyle Brownhill, Ben Harrison and Mat Bailey. I might be able to travel in with Lucas Dawson but that still means diverting to Stoke.

"So there's a concern with how much it's going to cost to drive in but hopefully that side of things can be sorted."

Rea, a schoolteacher, said the delay was down to trying to come to an agreement over taking Sean Clancy's role coaching in the academy as well.

"But while I'd have been able to do the coaching, I needed another qualification to teach the theory," he said.

"So I'd only have been able to go in as an assistant and it wouldn't have been enough for me to leave my other job."

Rea added: "I haven't spoken to any other club so it wasn't like I was going to go elsewhere."

It's unclear whether Telford will now pursue their interest in Gittings. They haven't heard back from Tilt, who is pondering offers from the Bucks and National League North new-boys Salford City.