Caley Thistle manager John Robertson is stepping up his search for a new assistant following the departure of Brian Rice to St Mirren.
Following lengthy negotiations last week, which appeared to have broken down when Saints failed to offer compensation, the two clubs finally agreed a deal on Friday.
Rice will now assume his role as Alan Stubbs’ assistant at the newly promoted Premiership side, leaving Robertson to decide on the 54-year-old’s successor.
Robertson could bring a new assistant into the club or promote from within, and the latter option could pave the way for Scott Kellacher to take up the position.
Kellacher, who has been Inverness’ first-team coach since John Hughes was appointed as manager in 2013, has remained in the role under Richie Foran and Robertson.
Meanwhile, Robertson is reluctant to add further to his squad if it blocks the paths of the club’s promising youngsters.
A batch of 10 under-17s signed their first professional contracts with the club over the summer and Robertson has high hopes for them to push into the first-team this season.
Such an opportunity was grasped by Daniel Mackay in the last campaign, emerging from obscurity to become the club’s youngest goalscorer and set up the winning goal in the IRN-BRU Cup final.
Five players – Angus Beith, Tom Walsh, Shaun Rooney, Jordan White and Jamie McCart – have already been added this summer but the Caley Jags boss is keen to leave room for the teenagers to flourish.
Robertson said: “We’re not far away now. People are still saying we could do with another central midfield player but that’s dictated by budget.
“We’ve got good options in the attacking and defensive areas and in the centre, we’ve effectively got two positions that Liam Polworth, Angus Beith, Charlie Trafford and Joe Chalmers can fill.
“We’ve got a trialist in too but we have to be careful we don’t block the route of the young lads. They need a pathway as Daniel MacKay had last year. If we start with this size of squad now then I will be happy. We have got to look at the fact other teams may come look at our players, which may change the dynamic. We looked at the areas we wanted to strengthen and got most of our options in. Some were keen to come but we couldn’t match their wage demands. We had to bypass them and go for the next one.
“We’ve got a strong squad and we have high hopes for the likes of Cameron Harper, Jack Brown, Roddy MacGregor and Kieran Chalmers, to kick on and show they’re worthy of their place.”
