One of the biggest jobs ahead of new Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass is the summer rebuild that lies ahead of him at Pittodrie.
With a number of key players out of contract in the summer and Michael Ruth the only signed forward for next season, there is work to be done for Glass in the coming weeks.
On the flipside, there is also the opportunity for the current squad to win themselves new deals or for the loan players to prove they deserve a permanent chance with Aberdeen.
Callum Hendry, Florian Kamberi and Fraser Hornby are all on-loan, as is goalkeeper Gary Woods, who the Dons have reportedly made moves to retain.
“It’s important that the players right now have a motivation, which is a real opportunity to be here next year,” said Glass.
“So if we win as many games as we hope to between now and the end of the season then we’ve been successful, and the players make it difficult for us.
“The benefit of having this period between now and the summer is getting the chance to assess the group, see what they’ve got and how they perform in pressure situations. I expect them to be handling that at this club.
“I know what’s missing, it’s obvious there are centre-forwards missing, because every striker we’ve got apart from Michael Ruth is on loan or out of contract. So there is a huge hole there that needs to be fixed.
“The loan players who are here right now might want to stay and they might make us make them stay by how many goals they score.
“The young ones might score enough to show us they should be the main guy. So there are lots of opportunities.
“We have a lot of players out of contract and some of them might not want to stay, but I think most of them will want to be part of things.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of the players and they’re sensible enough to know that there’s a new manager in so, right now, I can’t give them answers.
“So if they come knocking, how do I know they can handle the way we want to play and are they up for the challenge?”
Glass has been assured by chairman Dave Cormack that there will be funds available to perform the necessary work on the squad.
He also played down fears that a commitment to youth would mean filling the squad with untested teenagers.
“We’ll get the backing that’s necessary,” added Glass. “Everybody at the club realises where the gaps are, but we also realise there’s a good crop of young players there as well. One of the other interviews asked as if we were going to fill the team with 17 and 18-year-olds. That’s not the case.
“They have to be good enough to play for Aberdeen. (Interim boss) Paul (Sheerin) was really brave recently; he didn’t just pick an experienced group. He gave debuts to Jack Mackenzie, Calvin Ramsay, (and) Ethan Ross started his first game in over a year.
“If they’re good enough they’ll get opportunities. Our job with the recruitment side is to convince the board that, if there’s money to be spent, it’s worth it. It’s going to help our team win games and bring people into the stadium.”