Inverness Caledonian Thistle fans are livid after their club’s relegation to League One – and have demanded big changes including manager Duncan Ferguson’s exit.
Caley Thistle podcasters from The Wyness Shuffle are railing against boss Ferguson’s hope he can stay in charge and attempt to lead the club back up to the Championship next season.
Inverness lost Saturday’s Championship play-off final second leg against Hamilton Accies at the Caledonian Stadium 3-2, meaning an overall 5-3 aggregate defeat after their midweek loss in Lanarkshire.
The ICT Supporters’ Trust are also demanding “significant change be made at the top of the club”.
It is 25 years since Caley Thistle won promotion out of the third tier of Scottish football under Steve Paterson when they were on the rise.
Inverness have been established in the Premiership for two decent spells, contested a League Cup final, won the Scottish Cup, played in Europa League qualifying, and as a Championship club, were last year’s Scottish Cup runners-up.
Since being relegated to the Championship in 2017, they have come close to promotion via the play-offs – most recently in 2022 under Billy Dodds.
Ferguson replaced Dodds last September, taking 41 points from 30 league games. Over the course of the season, the club claimed 42 points overall.
The former Everton caretaker boss insisted after the “gut-wrenching” defeat to Accies that he wants to remain in charge if allowed by chairman Ross Morrison. He’s on a three-year contract.
‘Ever-diminishing returns’ at ICT – fan podcasters
However, The Wyness Shuffle issued a statement, slating those at the top at Caley Thistle and making it clear it is time for managerial change.
It said: “A sad embarrassment that it has come to this.
“(Club legend) Ross Tokely said it best tonight when he said the club had strived for so hard for so long to get to the level it did.
“Punching above that level for so long, for us to fall so quickly so far.
“Forget that we won the Scottish Cup and and finished third in the Premiership nine years ago.
“Forget our meteoric rise through the leagues.
“Forget all the goodwill, but remember just two seasons ago we were 90 minutes away from returning to the Premiership and last season in another Scottish Cup final.
“What has transpired since is criminal. There are bad decisions then there are bad decisions.
“The club has been on a long trajectory of ever-diminishing returns for years and those at the helm are culpable. Supporters are there to watch football.”
Caley Thistle boss ‘has to walk if he has any pride’
Taking a swipe at Ferguson’s comments about plastic pitches during the play-offs campaign, the podcasters’ statement continued that the ex-Rangers, Everton and Scotland striker should avoid managing in League One – which is dominated by artificial surfaces.
They called for ICT fans to unite and look to the future.
The statement added: “Duncan Ferguson can cite his record as many times as he wants, but his efforts, tactics and his decisions were questionable over the season and we now have proved him to be an abject failure.
“He needs to walk if he has any pride. After all, only three clubs in League One play on grass and one of them is us (Arbroath and Dumbarton are the others).
“Right now, we need to ensure we come together as a fanbase and ensure we have a club to support next season.”
ICT Supporters’ Trust – Burden of current failure lies with leadership
The ICT Supporters’ Trust also released a statement aimed squarely at the board in the wake of Caley Thistle’s relegation.
It said: “Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC is at a crossroads.
“The decisions made now will have an impact for decades to come, which is why they need to be the right ones.
“The club has experienced severe financial difficulties since being relegated to the championship. A prolonged period in League One will exacerbate this.
“We are therefore calling on significant change to be made at the top of the club.
“Individuals with fresh ideas have joined the board of directors in recent times, and new additions have been made behind the scenes, but more change is needed.
“The burden of the current failure lies squarely at the feet of the leadership, and we now demand change that allows fresh stewardship of the football club.
“The relationship between those running the football club and its supporters is at an all-time low.
“As a supporters’ trust, we have the objective of the greatest possible supporter and community influence in the running and ownership of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC and that fans are communicated to with honesty and transparency.
“We urge supporters to join the supporters’ rust and help build the Stronger Together Fund, which aims to increase our shareholding of the football club and assist in creating a sustainable football club with supporters at its heart.
“To that end, as part of the club’s planned restructure, we are calling for a democratically elected fans’ representative to sit on Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC’s board of directors.”
Protect full-time status and youth, trust demand
The trust are pleading with club chiefs to do all they can to keep the playing operation full-time and use academy players more willingly in the first-team.
It added: “The club’s planned restructure must prioritise spend on the first-team and the club’s youth infrastructure over everything else to ensure that we have a full-time first-team squad for the League One campaign and that the future of the football academy is protected.
“In the coming seasons, the club will need to supplement and staff the first-team squad with a greater number of academy players – something that the current first-team manager has continually refused to do.
“Only by making these changes can Inverness Caledonian Thistle move forward, reconnect with the fanbase and provide our supporters with a football club of which they can be proud.”
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