Stephen Robinson discussed trying to hold on to prized assets, the closing of the transfer window and the weekend visit to Livingston at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
Here’s what he said to the broadcast media.
On the return from the winter break
“We’ve come back and we’ve started really well. I thought our performance against Hibs was brilliant. It’s funny when I speak to some fans, they don’t think it was as good as I did because we didn’t win. But everyone’s dictated to by results.
“But so much of what was so good throughout the team and to watch, we’ve played some terrific football.
“We needed an end product. Now we’ll have Christopher Long back, we’ll have Jermaine back, and potentially we’ll have James as well.
“So our lineup will be a little bit different hopefully. But we’re going to to a very, very in-form team in Livingston. I have so much respect for them. They are a club with similar resources as ourselves.
“They have won five in a row at home. We’ve won five in a row away from home. So it has the makings of a very, very good game.”
On facing Livingston
“They’re not quite as direct as everybody makes out. That’s a myth. They play a lot more football than people give them credit for. They get the ball early forward, make no mistake. They play to their strengths.
“They’ve got Lyndon Dykes, who I think is a very, very good footballer. They played to him and when they get the ball up there, they play some very good football. They can handle the ball and they can put balls into areas that’ll hurt you.
“So they’ve got to be admired for what they’ve done and respected. But again, if we go and play the way we can play, we go and put on an Aberdeen performance with the steel that we showed and the level of quality we showed against Hibs, then I’m confident that we can go and get a result.”
On potential departures on deadline day
“The timing is not great. But I accept the parameters. I’ve accepted them for almost five seasons now that we will lose players.
“But the timing of deadline day and the chance to actually replace people on the level of quality that we may have to let go, it’s difficult, very difficult, for a club with our resources.
“But it’s football isn’t it? We’re at the mercy of people with more money than us and you have to get on with it.
“We’ve got people in the building that I still very much believe in.
“It’s a real difficult one, cause you have to be fair to everybody. We sell ourselves on developing young players and on selling them. And we do terrifically well.
“You’ll have seen the boys in the stand on Saturday. Louis Moult, Marvin Johnson and Cedric Kipre. If you’re selling the club as, we develop them and sell them and then all of a sudden you hold them back from life-changing money, it’s very, very difficult to keep players happy.
“So there has to be a parameter that works for everybody. For the club with the right money, and for the player. And we’ve always done that and we always will. But we certainly won’t be undervaluing our players. No way.”