Former Caley Thistle captain Stuart Golabek believes the club should reduce the number of loan signings as they attempt to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.
Inverness dropped down to League One on Saturday after losing 5-3 on aggregate to Hamilton Accies.
It means the Highland capital club will kick off next season in the third tier of Scottish football for the first time in 25 years – when they were promoted as runners-up to Livingston under Steve Paterson.
The Caley Jags since twice had spells in the Scottish Premiership, won the Scottish Cup and even qualified for the Europa League qualifying stages.
It has been quite a fall since being relegated into the Championship 2017. A few close calls with promotion kept the club near the top end of the division.
One point from automatic safety
However, a bad start this season under Billy Dodds could not be turned around by boss Duncan Ferguson, who replaced him in September.
They dropped into the relegation play-offs by finishing ninth, one point below Queen’s Park and just three points adrift of mid-table Morton.
The board met this week to plot their way forward and the one decision made public so far is the club will remain full-time in a bid to return to the Championship within one year.
Golabek, who scored ICT’s first top-flight goal in 2004 against Dunfermline Athletic, made 242 appearances for the club.
With only a handful of players signed up for next year including captain Billy Mckay and midfielder Charlie Gilmour, he thinks the club must provide a more stable position by getting players signed on permanent deals.
Staying full-time ‘was a big decision’
On Saturday alone, seven loan players were involved in the crunch game to keep the team in the division as they sought to overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit.
James Carragher (Wigan Athletic), Morgan Boyes and Samson Lawal (both Livingston), Cammy Kerr and Max Anderson (both Dundee), Aribim Pepple (Luton Town) all started, with Ross County’s Alex Samuel coming on as a sub – and scoring in the final moment.
Golabek said: “Most clubs in League One would like to be full-time, but it’s a difficult one when you might be banking on going back up in one year.
“The financial position of the club is well documented, so to stay full-time was a big decision. You don’t want to put the club’s position at risk.
“The gates have been going down in the last while and they will probably drop in League One.
“As bad as it was for Caley Thistle at the weekend, the result was justified.
“They had a good number of loanees this year and the club never used to go down that road too much. Most of the players were signed on two or three-year contracts. There was good stability.
“Over the course of the two legs, Hamilton looked the hungrier side. That was the most disappointing thing. Inverness didn’t create too much and they crumbled.
“Whether the club stick with Duncan Ferguson after this may well come down to finances.”
Younger players can grasp chances
Golabek says one plus point to be gleaned from relegation is that younger players might just get their chance to shine in a team looking for promotion in League One.
He said: “One positive from this situation hopefully for Caley Thistle will be this might be a good opportunity for young players coming through.
“They might get the chance to prosper, whereas they might not have been ready for the Championship.
“League One will be tough, but if the club can balance the books, they have to get the right mix between youth and experience.
“Hamilton have come up through the play-offs and they had good young legs in their side and they seemed hungrier.
“It’s difficult. Do they put all their eggs in one basket to go all out to win the league? You might do that financially then still by the end of the season come up short.”
ICT players must be pitch perfect
Manager Ferguson voiced his concerns over playing Montrose and Hamilton on their artificial pitches in the play-offs.
With the majority of League One clubs playing on similar surfaces, Golabek says the squad must ensure they are match-ready for these fixtures if they want to be at the sharp end.
He added: “You can grumble about plastic pitches all you like, but you have to adjust. Some players like playing on them, some players don’t.
“Seven pitches in League One are synthetic, so they have to get used to it.”
