Aberdeen were forced to cancel a planned January training camp in Dubai due to the Omicron outbreak.
Boss Stephen Glass confirmed the Dons were scheduled to jet to a United Arab Emirates training camp this month.
Glass had also planned to play a bounce game while in the Persian Gulf during the Premiership winter break.
Aberdeen used Dubai for warm weather camps in four consecutive winters from 2017 to 20.
That run stopped last January with the nation in a coronavirus lockdown.
Aberdeen had hoped to resume their warm weather trips this month, but had to pull the plug on the plan.
The call to scrap the overseas camp was made before the Premiership shutdown was moved forward in light of recent crowd restrictions.
Dons players had already cancelled their Christmas party in light of rising numbers due to the Omicron variant.
A limit of 500 spectators at football games was imposed by the Scottish government in a bid to combat rising Covid cases.
That crowd restriction is set to be reviewed by Holyrood on Monday, January 17.
Aberdeen are set to return to action from the winter shutdown with a home clash against Rangers the day after the Scottish Government review crowd numbers.
Glass said: “We were going to go to Dubai.
“The players were going to get a bit of time off as well.
“The players got a couple of disappointments – they didn’t get their Christmas party and they didn’t get to Dubai.
“So we had to rearrange not going to Dubai and also change the time off for the players so that we got them back in plenty of time.
“I think the decision to cancel was mid December.
“They all saw it coming anyway with all the changes.
“It wasn’t something we didn’t expect.”
Dubai training camp from 2017 to 20
📷 Good morning from Dubai where the first team took part in the first of two training sessions at the Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence earlier! #StandFree pic.twitter.com/WG8n7eReAI
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) January 9, 2020
The Reds were last in the United Arab Emirates in January 2020 just months before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
In each of the four years in Dubai, the Dons arranged a bounce game.
They faced opponents from Jordan, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence where @AberdeenFC will be training in Dubai. Dons arrive today for warm weather camp. Impressive facility pic.twitter.com/e8Pn9tqQTp
— Sean Wallace (@EESeanWallace) January 10, 2017
Aberdeen lost 1-0 to 16-time Jordanian champions Al Wehdat in a friendly in Dubai in the last visit in 2020.
In 2019, the Reds beat United Arab Emirates side Dibba Al Hisn 2-0.
Clubs from Uzbekistan were the opponents in the first two years in the Middle East.
The Reds lost 2-0 to Lokomotiv Tashkent in 2018 and beat FC Bunyodkor 2-1 the previous year.
Aberdeen had been based at the Jebel Ali Centre of Excellence during the four previous winter training camps.
Half time: Aberdeen 0 Al Wehdat SC 1 – Samer (35mins). New signing Dylan McGeouch looking good. #aberdeenfc #DonsinDubai pic.twitter.com/apljpFzrvD
— Sean Wallace (@EESeanWallace) January 13, 2020
No home friendlies for Aberdeen
When the Dubai trip was scrapped, Glass opted not to arrange a friendly within Scotland.
The Dons chose to stick to the plan successfully utilised during summer pre-season by remaining in a bio-secure bubble at Cormack Park.
That allows Glass complete autonomy over squad matters by ruling out potential Covid-19 complications with travelling and friendlies.
Glass said: “The aim was that over there we were going to (play a bounce game).
“We probably won’t have any bounce games because of Covid concerns, so we’ll have games between ourselves.
“We had a couple of things on the go.
“However, a lot of clubs that would be able to play have limited players and the Covid situation keeps changing.
“We are better with what we have ourselves and can make a plan similar to what we did in the summer.
“Where we basically took the bull by the horns and said this is what we are going to do and stick to it.
“That’s how we are going to go from here.
“What we’ll do is similar to the way we did pre-season last summer.”
Hopes crowd restrictions will ease
Aberdeen called time on 2021 with a 2-1 defeat of Dundee at Pittodrie on Boxing Day.
A crowd of just 500 were allowed inside the stadium to watch that match.
In light of the crowd restrictions, the SPFL board asked clubs to submit their preference about potentially moving the winter break forward.
By a majority decision, the start of the three-week Premiership break was moved from January 3 to December 27.
Glass is hopeful restrictions will be eased to have the Red Army back in force for the clash with Rangers.
He said: “I’m more hopeful because it looks more positive at the moment.
“Hopefully that continues.
“The restrictions in England are different, so it might cause things to happen and fingers-crossed that will be the case.”
