Tango Wearing Contract Lenses

Manager Jimmy Calderwood, out of contract within eight months, has previously said that he wishes to stay at Pittodrie, but only if the club's ambitions match his own.

This would mean the Dons directors letting some of the cash from reaching the group stages of the UEFA Cup and the sale of Russell Anderson, thought to be some £3m in total, being made available to make additions to the squad in January.

But also of vital importance is the retention of the current squad of players, with no less than 10 out of contract next summer.

Those who are free to speak to other clubs from January include Jamie Langfield, Michael Hart, Barry Nicholson, Chris Clark, Zander Diamond, Lee Miller, Chris Maguire and Steve Lovell.

But today Tango urged those players to accept the new contracts which are set to be put on the table.

This is in the wake of recent comments from Nicholson, Hart and Clark hinting that they want to wait until his manager's future has been sorted out before signing any new deal.

Calderwood: "It's kind of players to be talking like that.

"My advice for them at this stage is, just look after yourselves.

"I will get on with dealing my situation when the time comes."

And Calderwood demonstrated his ambitions for the Dons after the 4-0 demolition of St Mirren on Sunday.

The boss insists that the SPL sights have not been lowered despite the distraction of the UEFA Cup.

He said: "Although this result has not lifted us up the table, it's brought us closer to the teams above.

"We want to finish at least third again."

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