ABERDEEN manager Jimmy Calderwood has urged his players whose contracts expire next summer to tell him by Christmas if they want to stay or go.
Captain Scott Severin, top scorer Darren Mackie, Jamie Smith, Derek Young, Lee Mair and Jeffrey de Visscher are the key men who could walk away for nothing at the end of the season.
Calderwood plans to avoid the pain suffered last season, when Ba
rry Nicholson, Chris Clark and Michael Hart chose to move on.
He said: "If players don't want to be at Aberdeen then they are better letting me know before Christmas.
"It would allow them to get in ahead of the rush of players who are likely to be on offer in January and increase their hopes of securing a decent move to a new club. It would also help us find suitable replacements.
"I would certainly hope to have all them sorted, one way or another, by the middle of January. If they want to stay and we want to keep them then it will be a case of seeing what we can do.
"If players want to leave then we will need to decide if it's going to be in January, when we can still get a fee, or in the summer, when their contracts expire.
"I'm not here to knacker anyone's career. But if any of them say they won't be signing, it's still not certain they would be allowed to leave. We would decide what is best for the club."
The full article contains 259 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
