Immediately after the Asian Champions League exit, coach Graham Arnold pledged to make huge changes to his roster and said making "tough decisions" was essential if the Sky Blues were to rise up the table next season.

He waited less than 24 hours before swinging the axe, culling goalkeepers Ivan Necevski and Anthony Bouzanis, defenders Zac Anderson, Riley Woodcock and Jacob Tratt, plus forwards Robert Stambolziev, Alex Mullen and Christopher Naumoff.

"I believe we have strong nucleus of players with which to build towards next season and refresh our squad," he said. "We will be bringing in a number of new signings which will help to improve our current squad and I'm confident and determined to see Sydney FC make a renewed challenge for silverware in the 2016-17 season. It is where this club belongs."

Although few of those are surprising outs, high hopes were held for several of those players. Naumoff in particular was seen to have suffered the biggest fall from grace, having played a pivotal role in the side that made last year's grand final.

Most of the others were bit-part players but several were given chances in the ACL – although none impressed enough to land to new deals.

Sydney had already parted company with Mickael Tavares and Jacques Faty, allowing the pair to join the Central Coast Mariners.

Also gone is Ali Abbas, who looked set to be released before landing a deal with three-time Asian Champions League winners, Pohang Steelers.

While the blood-letting runs deep, by no means are they the last outs for the Sky Blues. The club wants to clear the decks and make as many upgrades as possible.

They would like to help Shane Smeltz find a new home but the veteran striker has another year on his contract and will only go if he gets a similar deal elsewhere. He nearly moved to Malaysia a year ago and may look there again.

Milos Dimitrijevic, one of the club's highest earners, will also be allowed to depart if he can find a deal elsewhere, having suffered a serious loss of form in his second A-League season. Like Smeltz, he is under contract and would prefer to stay.

Striker Matt Simon, who enjoyed a prolonged run in the team due to injuries to Alex Brosque and Filip Holosko's non-ACL selection, will be offered another year as a bargain-basement battering ram – in spite of a lack of goals.

The brief harbourside career of winger Andrew Hoole appears over despite being contracted. He has been linked to Adelaide United, where the Novocastrian could replace Craig Goodwin.

The departure of Faty has already been countered by the arrival of Socceroo Alex Wilkinson from Melbourne City, squeezing Anderson out of the squad. The tall defender has admirers locally and in Asia, with one social media rumour suggesting he already has a club in the United Arab Emirates.

Brosque has not yet re-signed with the club but a new one-year contract will soon be finalised, with the captain all but certain to sign it.

Arnold is keen to add more experience to his squad and his next major priority will be purchasing a second international marquee – as the A-League rules will soon permit – as his primary striker

"The worst part of my job is telling players they've got to leave or move," he said. "We had an exceptionally good ACL, but clear in my mind is the A-League and there will be changes. In regards to recruitment, we've started with Alex Wilkinson and Michael Zullo, but there will be another four to five to come."