Stephen Robinson admits he’s going to have to balance the St Mirren books this winter after pushing the club’s budget to the limit.
But that won’t stop the Buddies preparing for new arrivals in January when players potentially leave Paisley.
The Saints manager pushed the boat out during a period of heavy recruitment, with internationals Trevor Carson, Declan Gallagher and Alex Gogic among several new faces joining the club over the summer.
While he anticipates some players frustrated by a lack of game-time may look to leave midway through the season, Robinson and head of recruitment Martin Foyle are already preparing to pick up replacements when the time comes.
Robinson told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “My budget is gone. If anything, I’ve got to bring it down slightly.
“I’m a slight percentage over it and will look to balance that up at Christmas time again. We’re happy with our squad with our younger players coming through.
“Christmas changes things with the natural progression of boys who aren’t playing and they want to leave. Our eyes are on the ball in terms of looking to pre-empt what might happen with people unhappy.
“Martin Foyle has the most difficult job in the world, having to have replacements ready to go.”
Robinson revealed it is always tough to see the Premiership’s richer clubs splashing the cash during transfer windows, particularly on deadline day.
But he insists every club works to make the Scottish top flight as competitive as they can, despite the huge differences in overall budget.
Robinson said: “Within our limits I’m happy. I’m not going to complain about it, that’s just the facts of it. We get 4,500 people to our games and don’t have massive benefactors at our football club.
“It is what it is and that’s the same for a big part of Scottish football.
“Look, you do look over with a little bit of envy when you see what people bring in on transfer deadline day. But you’ve just got to do your best against that.
“And I believe all the teams in the Premiership who don’t have the rich resources that others do still make it a very competitive league.”
One player St Mirren do not want to see leaving the club this winter or next summer is midfield starlet Dylan Reid.
The 17-year-old has already attracted interest from Celtic and Rangers and is currently in the final year of his contract.
Robinson is determined to hang on to the Saints academy product, adding: “We have tried to sit down with Dylan on numerous occasions, but we haven’t managed to do that yet.
“It’s something that’s an agenda at the football club. But at the minute people need to remember he’s just turned 17 and is still a kid.
“I don’t want to put any more undue pressure on him than there needs to be.
“He just needs to concentrate on playing football and that’s what he’s going to do. He goes away with Scotland in the next couple of weeks and he’s a young kid making his way in the game.
“He’ll decide what he decides – we’ve only got a certain amount of money we can pay people. But we’ll be trying to make sure that happens and if it doesn’t then that’s football.”
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