ERNEST Borel, last season's Hongkong FA Cup and Viceroy Cup winners, have released striker Raphael Meade and midfielder Tony Finnigan ahead of today's Hongkong FA registration deadline.
Struggling Kitchee will also drop two foreign players, striker Robert Spence and midfielder Gary Williams, as clubs are forced to trim their quota to five, the maximum number allowed by the association.
Borel, who were knocked out of the Viceroy Cup by Eastern last week, will retain goalkeeper Tim Dalton, right-back Clive Goodyear, midfielder Craig Foster and strikers Peter Murray and Keith Thompson.
The Borel management decided not to extend the contract of Finnigan, formerly with Crystal Palace and Brentford, and ex-Arsenal striker Meade partly because this was their cheapest option. Their other foreign players, all of whom are under contract to theend of the season, would have required compensation.
But club manager Tsui Kwok-on said money was not the main reason.
''It has just been a very disappointing season for us. We only have the FA Cup to go for now. The management are very disappointed with our results.
''Finnigan is a good player but we decided to drop him because we didn't feel he would have made a significant difference to our hopes of winning the FA Cup.'' Kitchee chairman Fred Ng Chi-keung said the club would retain central defender Jon Widdows, striker John Clare, who is still recovering from a knee injury after six weeks on the sidelines, and midfielder Sean Edwards. They have also offered a new contractto their former England international winger, Mark Barham, whose one-month contract ends on April 5.
