First Team Coach Peter Leven spoke to the media on Friday lunchtime to preview Saturday’s game with Celtic at Pittodrie. RedTV subscribers can watch in full now.

“It has been a difficult couple of days. I had a lot of respect for Barry and Steve. We have to be positive and get the boys up and at it for the game tomorrow. I am taking it day by day, game by game and making sure the boys are ready, that is the most important thing.

“We have got good boys in the changing room, we have the senior ones like Graeme Shinnie and Jonny Hayes who are so good for a coach in there. I had a chat with them earlier and the spirits are good. The boys were at it in training today. We all know our job and hopefully we can deliver.

“It is going to be tough tomorrow but we are at home and we are Aberdeen. I am positive. I have spoken to Barry and Steve. They have come in and thanked the staff. They are two great guys and I am sure they will get something else soon.

“We have a double header against Celtic and Rangers coming up. We have to play them sometime and obviously they have come right now. We are Aberdeen. Celtic are coming to our home pitch, we gave them a tough game earlier on in the season at Pittodrie. We have Celtic tomorrow and we will see how that goes. After that we will prepare for Rangers.

“The fans are massive for us. It is a massive club. The fans need the players as well. They need the players to be at it tomorrow and that brings the fans. I need the fans to be all together and hopefully they can bring the noise tomorrow.

“I have seen little things over the season that I like. I have some ideas. Along with Scott Anderson we have a plan for tomorrow and hopefully we can implement that and we will try and get a result tomorrow.

“The most important thing is to get points on the board and start climbing the table. It doesn’t matter who we are playing it is all about getting points.

“It is massive (keeping Miovski, Duk & Barron in the transfer window). They are key players for us and for the rest of the season they are going to be massive for the club. I spoke to them all today individually and they are all up for the challenge and we need them.

“Stefan should be available tomorrow. Rubi is out but we got the good news that he doesn’t need an operation.

“I said to the players the other day and we have to self reflect. How could we have done things better as a team, as a staff? Ultimately it will always fall on the managers head. I said to the players we need to stick together and we need to fix it.”