Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner has set a deadline of Wednesday for parents of youth players to commit to weekly donations in order to preserve the club’s academy.
Inverness have written to parents of around 140 players between the ages of 12 and 18, asking them to make weekly £10 contributions in order to prevent the academy being scaled down by more than half its present size.
Gardiner has warned the Highlanders will be forced to withdraw from the Scottish FA’s Project Brave, of which they hold status in the second “progressive” tier, should they fail to receive enough support.
Gardiner, chairman Ross Morrison and academy director Charlie Christie held a series of meetings at Caledonian Stadium earlier this week in which they briefed parents on the need for extra funding.
Gardiner is now awaiting the response ahead of a Caley Jags board meeting on Thursday.
He said: “The meetings were very positive and very constructive, but the proof will be in the pudding in terms of what response we get.
“We set a deadline of seven days, through to Wednesday next week, for everyone to come back to us.
“We’re going to have a board meeting next Thursday by which time we’ll know what the response is and where we stand financially. The board will then discuss it and decide what we do from there.
“I think there were over 90% of parents in attendance across the six socially-distanced meetings we held on Monday and Tuesday evenings.
“That was tremendous, but now we need to wait and see what happens in the next few days.”
