Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner believes new head coach Billy Dodds is the man to lead the Highlanders back to the Premiership.
Inverness yesterday confirmed the appointment of Dodds on a two-year deal, replacing John Robertson who has switched to a sporting director position.
It is the 52-year-old’s first permanent managerial position, having previously had coaching roles with Ross County, Dundee, Dundee United, Queen of the South as well as Inverness at the tail end of last season.
Gardiner says the club remains intent on returning to the top flight for the first time since their relegation in 2017, and he is confident Dodds is the man to lead Caley Jags back to Scottish football’s highest level.
He said: “After Billy’s interview, one of the things I discussed with the board was: ‘Do we think he’s the man that can get us promoted?’ And the answer was yes.
“We asked that about each candidate. Promotion is the target and that’s the be all and end all.
“We’re not here to run a nice, well run football club and never achieve our goals. Our goals are very, very clear.
“We’ve got a philosophy as a club, we have a position in the community that we fulfil and we want to go above and beyond on all of that.
“We asked ‘Can he get us into the Premiership?’ The answer was 100%. If he does that, then it will be our job to help him make us stick. We’re all in this together.”
Dodds emerged as the frontrunner during the three-week recruitment process, in which the former Scotland, Aberdeen and Rangers striker was among four shortlisted candidates who were interviewed.
Although Gardiner says Caley Jags had their eye on Dodds from an early stage, he felt it was important to complete the process thoroughly.
He added: “I saw the influence he had within the dressing room, the positive frame of mind he was constantly in, how he managed to project that onto squad players who hadn’t been in a particularly positive frame of mind.
“That was a signal for us, but we thought we’d be doing the club, the supporters a disservice if we didn’t follow through with the interview process and see who was out there.
“The best thing that happened was me saying that to Billy and him saying ‘of course, no problem at all’.
“He was confident within himself he’d come through that.
“I said to him he was in the box seat, but we had a long list that came down to a shortlist and, thankfully, Billy came through as the best man for the job.
“We had some really brilliant candidates, but we still felt, as a board, he was the man.
“It was unanimous and easy.”
