Caley Thistle chairman Graham Rae has warned of further cutbacks of around £500,000 if the club miss out on their target of promotion back to the Premiership this season.
Inverness received a parachute payment of just under £500,000 after suffering relegation from the top-flight, which will be halved next season if Caley Jags remain in the Championship.
Caley Jags will also lose the UEFA solidarity payment of around £370,000 they received earlier this year, for being one of the 11 clubs in the Premiership last season when Celtic qualified for the group stages of the Champions League.
Rae says regaining top-flight status is crucial for the club, with John Robertson’s side currently five points adrift of the play-offs.
Rae said: “The Championship is very competitive but for a club of our size, which doesn’t have the deepest pockets in the world, it’s a huge change in our standing with a huge amount of money less we generate through television.
“Our attendance is down, our hospitality is down, our sales are down. It just makes it much more demanding. The supporters, understandably, still have huge appetite, they want attractive football and a wonderful fan experience.
“It’s just very difficult to do when we have somewhere between £1.2million and £1.3million less to spend this year than we had last year.
“Next year we won’t have the benefit of a UEFA payment and if we were still in the Championship we would only have half that parachute.
“In the event we don’t get up and stay in the Championship, we are looking at the order of another £500,000 less to spend next year on the current business model.
“It’s critically important we do our best to get into the top-four, have a chance in the play-offs. With a fair wind and hard work, we are confident we will give a good account ourselves and do our very best to get back up.”
