Caley Thistle manager John Hughes wants his side to look to Motherwell for inspiration for next season.
The Steelmen defied the odds to beat Aberdeen to second place in the Scottish Premiership last month on the final day of the campaign.
Hughes is full of admiration for the job manager Stuart McCall has done at Fir Park and believes Well’s ability to punch above their weight against clubs boasting bigger budgets is lesson his squad would do well to heed.
He said: “I told the players when I came in they just needed to look at Motherwell for inspiration.
“Motherwell finished second ahead of Aberdeen in the league and we gave as good as we got against them at their place.
“We can look for inspiration there and say that could be us next season.
“But for it to be us we need to be more ruthless and demanding of each other. I’ve found those qualities here but we need to ask questions of each other every week.”
Hughes has made much of his desire to put a greater emphasis on passing and building play from defence since succeeding Terry Butcher.
Opportunities to implement his ideas were limited due to hectic schedule but with the players due to return for pre-season training later this month the Caley Thistle manager plans on using the time with the squad wisely.
He said: “If you saw us when it worked in the games against Ross County, St Johnstone and Motherwell it was great to watch.
“It just takes a little bit of time. We’ve asked the supporters to be a little bit more patient and buy into what we’re trying to do, but it was not easy given the lack of time we had to work with the players.
“It was Saturday, Wednesday week after week which is fine if you’ve worked with the players all season but not so easy to make little tweaks here and there when recovery and rest has to take priority.
“When I came up here I inherited a good honest bunch who loved to defend and keep clean sheets and it’s keeping all these fundamental values and adding what I want from them.”