Mickey Harte has said that he intends to stay on as Tyrone manager next season.

Speculation has mounted that the three-time All-Ireland winning boss could step down after his side's quarter-final defeat to Dublin at the weekend, but he has confirmed that he wants to stay in charge of the Red Hands for a 10th season in 2012.

"I'm there until next year anyway," Harte stated. "There's no contract or anything else, but I agreed to go on for another year, not this year, but a few years ago.

"I don't see any reason why that would change."

However, Harte does admit that he expects to be minus the services of a few of his veterans next year but does not believe that there will be wholesale changes from the team which started against the Dubs last Saturday night.

"There's always change in every squad every year," he said. "I think people are thinking a wee bit narrowly to say this is a team that's going to disappear all in one go.

"That's not the case. There are players that will be near the end of their careers and they'll make the decision that's right for them. But there'll be no wholesale turnover as you look through the team that started, there's not that many elder statesmen. Leave everybody to make their own decisions in their own time.

"But it is inevitable that people who have been playing at the top level for 10, 11 or 12 years, they may have to consider what they're doing. This is not the time to do that and I would certainly respect them enough to make their own minds up on things like that." Tweet

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