Mark Ridgers insists the new Caley Thistle manager will feel lucky when he discovers the quality and potential of the Championship club’s squad.
Inverness are in the process of recruiting a new head coach and assistant boss following the sacking of Billy Dodds and Barry Wilson at the weekend.
Nine successive winless games, eight of which were defeats, cost the duo their jobs.
On Saturday, they host Dundee United in the league and sit bottom of the table with just one point.
Celtic B coach Darren O’Dea is the main name in the frame and the board seek to have a new boss appointed before next weekend’s Arbroath clash at Gayfield.
Goalkeeper Ridgers underlined the quality within the existing player pool and is sure the standard is good enough to turn their fortunes around.
He said: “The new manager will be lucky, because he’s got a great bunch of boys. There is a good mix of experience and youth. He will inherit a good squad here.
“Younger managers especially have different ideas. Whoever comes in will know how they want to do things. As players, we will accept what is happening.
“Two years as a football manager these days is a good period of time. From what we’ve had, that will change and we know that.
“I have worked under many manager turnovers in my career, especially at Hearts, so you just have to be professional and do what the manager asks and hopefully we will get the results.”
Ridgers’ praise for Dodds and Wilson
And Ridgers, who has a club record 82 clean sheets from 244 outings, explained the players must hold their hands up for not delivering the results, which led to the managerial change.
He said: “It’s disappointing when anyone loses their job. I worked with Billy in his two-and-a-bit years here and we had a wee fall-out, but he was great to work for.
“He was a really nice guy, as was Barry Wilson, who was here for the duration of the time I’ve been at the club. I got on really well with Baz.
“This is the industry we’re in and results haven’t been great. Everyone wants success and these things happen.
“As players, we have to take a little bit of responsibility, but we must move on.
“We’ve got to get points on the board and push up the league table.”
Plenty of points to play for
ICT have only lost by one goal in all five of their Championship matches so far.
Ridgers, 33, said there’s no need to panic about the position they’re in because there is plenty of time to climb the table.
He added: “It would be harsh to say we’ve been poor in all our games. Some games we’ve played really well, but we’ve missed opportunities and had some slack play or given balls away. We’re not a million miles away from where we want to be.
“You can play as good as you want, but it is about getting results – that’s what counts. From the start of the season, we haven’t done that.
“We also can’t get carried away. We’re only five league games into the season, we’ve 31 still to go. To be downbeat would be wrong.
“We will remain positive. We know we have good enough players in the dressing room.
“A new manager will come in and will be a new voice for everyone. He will be different to what players have experienced before.
“There’s disappointment at where we find ourselves and with losing the manager and Barry. But there is a long way to go. We can’t dwell on it. If there were five games to go rather than just five played, we’d be more worried.
“We know what we’ve got in that dressing room, and we know once things start turning our way, we will get results.”
Shackles to come off against United
And Ridgers revealed the interim management of Charlie Christie and John Robertson want the side to express themselves to cause Dundee United troubles this weekend.
He said: “In the position we find ourselves in, every game is massive. Dundee United, being favourites for the league, will be a big test for us.
“But we have good enough players to put a performance on and we’re going out to try and win this game, like we have every other week.
“Sometimes luck changes and I thought that would be the case when we drew with Dunfermline.
“Apart from losing, our performance against Raith Rovers was good enough to get something from it. We take that into Saturday.
“Everyone has trained really well. Potentially, the new manager could be watching, so it might be a chance for players who might not have played.
“I have worked for Robbo and Charlie for long enough. They are very experienced guys and they’ve already changed a few things this week, so everyone will work hard for them.
“Robbo and Charlie are both attack-minded coaches. They want to take the reins off certain players and express themselves. Fingers crossed, we will get the goals and the results to push us up the league.”
