JAMES FOWLER wants his star players to stay at Queen of the South – but insists they won't put the blocks on any big moves.
The Doonhamers boss is on alert with the transfer window now open and all but one member of the squad out of contract at the end of the season.
Ross County have already had an enquiry for young midfielder Ian McShane, who is tied to the club until June 2016, knocked back.
Highly-rated defender Mark Durnan is on the radar of Hearts while striker Gavin Reilly had a short trial at English Championship side Brentford in August.
Dfender Holt is also attracting interest from Hibs.
Queens have enjoyed a terrific start to the campaign – and not been out of the top four all season.
Fowler is keen for his squad to remain intact and avoid a tricky mid-season rebuilding job.
The 34-year-old said: “The boys have done well and we will have to wait and see if there are any bids.
“We would like to keep them to the summer – the younger ones especially are maybe attracting more interest.
“We're not going to stand in anybody's way but we obviously want to look after the club.
“We want to try and finish in the top four so if we could keep them until the summer then that would be ideal as January is a difficult time in the season to replace players.”
Midfielder Mark Kerr and striker John Baird have both left Palmerston in the last week and joined promotion play-off rivals Falkirk.
Fowler says there could be replacements and admits initial talks have taken place regarding new deals with some members of the current crop.
He added: “We're maybe looking to get somebody else in and hope one or two come back from injury.
“We will speak to the board. I'm quite happy with the squad at the minute but you're always looking to improve.
“We have spoken to some players as well and made our feelings known [over new deals].
“It's a great group to work with and I think they enjoy being together.”