Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner admits rising energy costs are creating major challenges for SPFL clubs.
The Caley Jags sit fourth in the Championship following Saturday’s 1-0 win at Ayr United.
While it has been a promising start to the season for the Inverness side as they push for promotion back to the top flight after missing out in the play-off final last season, Gardiner admits the difficulties off the pitch are proving troublesome.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, he said: “I can’t speak for other clubs but after feeling like you’d just got through everything with the pandemic, the pressure feels colossal.
“If we didn’t have a board of directors who are as good as we are it would be very, very close to the edge.
“Remember Inverness doesn’t have an owner and the easiest way to run a football club is to have a benevolent dictator behind you because you can go to them if you are struggling.
“We don’t have that.
“Thankfully we have our board of directors and the support of our suppliers who in turn have real pressure on them.
“If they weren’t extending credit lines to us a little bit longer than they normally would… I’m thankful to them for doing that.
“I can only imagine other CEOs are having the same pressures as me.
“You are joking about sleepless nights but that is absolutely the case.
“We will get past it because we have other things in the pipeline.
“We just have to make sure we survive this stuff.
“I was saying to our injured player Shane Sutherland, who suffered a terrible injury against Arbroath last season, that he will get through his injury and we will get past this.”
Gardiner believes the cost of living crisis will be affecting clubs across Scotland, especially the full-time clubs who are operating outwith the finances available in the top flight.
He said: “It is because of the cost of energy.
“The government are stepping in and saying they will cap prices but they are still going through the roof.
“We are talking about increases in power bills of 300-500 per cent. How do you find that cash?
“They have said the capping of prices is only for six months so how do you budget for that?
“We are looking at mitigating that as every club is.
“The only thing we can do is switch the lights off. You can maybe go to pandemic operational hours.
“During the pandemic we were running the club externally because we weren’t coming in.
“Everyone was doing that and you can try to do that but it is very challenging.
“We are in the same boat as everyone else and we have a greater challenge because of the geography.
“Our transport costs are through the roof and we have lost all the away fans.
“The difference between the Premiership and the Championship for away fans alone is just under £900,000 for us.”
Gardiner is thankful to the support from Caley Thistle fans for backing the challenging financial period.
He added: “The fans have done their bit. We have sold more season tickets this season than we did last season.
“We are the cheapest club (for tickets) in the Championship at £18 to sit in the stand.
“We dropped the price which is something we could only do because the board allowed me to do it.
“We recognise the fans have a cost of living crisis as well.
“We aren’t on the edge of oblivion but it is very, very difficult.
“If we didn’t have the support of people it would be even worse.
“That is not to say you don’t have sleepless nights or board meetings where you say to the guys that you need them to support us.”
Conversation