St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas is excited rather than daunted by the rebuilding project ahead of him this summer.
The Perth boss will be looking to bring in between 10 and 13 new players over the next couple of months, the first batch of which he is hoping to unveil within the next fortnight.
Top scorer Fran Sandaza and Chris Millar will definitely be moving on, while Jody Morris is expected to join them, as are Peter Enckelman, Marcus Haber and Carl Finnigan.
Cillian Sheridan and Lee Croft have only been at McDiarmid on loan, as have James Keatings, and Kudus Oyenuga, while Derek Riordan’s deal was a short one through to the summer that won’t be extended.
Jamie Adams and Alan Maybury may yet stay but even if they do, Lomas has a lot of shirts to fill.
As a young enthusiastic manager, though, it’s a task he’s relishing.
He said: ”In many ways, maybe it’s not a bad thing.
”The supporters will get to see some new players and maybe we need freshened up.
”The great thing for me will be going through a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a challenge I’ll take on.”‘Bare minimum’He added: ”I’d like to get three or four in the next couple of weeks so we’ve got a good core for pre-season training. Then we’re only looking for three or four in those last few weeks before the season starts.
”The last thing we want is needing six or seven the week before we kick off.
”The lads who will be leaving have done a great job and we’d have liked to keep a few but unfortunately we haven’t been able to get the deals done.
”Chris Millar was made a very good offer. That was the surprise one to us. It was a very good deal in the present climate. Not many players are getting two-year contracts.”
Lomas said: ”I’ll be sitting down with my chairman over the next few days.
”It’s not going to be easy. The bare minimum would be 10 to 12 12 would take us up to a squad of 22 and that would still be the smallest in the league.
”People think that the season stops and you start looking for players but it’s been never ending speaking to people over the last few months and that will continue.