Caley Thistle manager John Robertson insists football could not have been further from his mind during the depths of the six-month summer shutdown.
Inverness will play their first match since March 10 tomorrow when they face League Two side Elgin City at Borough Briggs in their first pre-season friendly ahead of the new campaign.
After last season was halted due to coronavirus, Robertson says his focus quickly changed to the health and wellbeing of his family, colleagues and friends during the pandemic.
With Robertson having taken Inverness’ players back for pre-season training earlier this month, he hopes to emerge revitalised following the prolonged break.
Robertson said: “From a personal aspect, management is extremely stressful. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
“It was actually nice to have a bit of time where there was no stress involved in the job.
“As any manager will tell you, the only time you’ve not got stress in your job is when you’ve been sacked. You obviously don’t have to worry about picking teams or results.
“Right away we kind of knew after a couple of weeks that the season wasn’t going to continue.
“My main concern was the health of my wife and my family and friends, as well as work-mates and the lads.
“There was a little bit of worry in wanting to make sure everybody was OK, because that was the most important thing. People were dying out there.
“Football at that time really meant nothing at all. I was more concerned with the safety and wellbeing of first and foremost my wife and family, then friends and work colleagues, as well as supporters in general. I didn’t want to hear of anybody being ill.
“It was a time to switch off. There wasn’t really much work that could be done.”
