Ross County have locked the doors at Victoria Park after instructing all players to take leave amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
Scottish football is in shutdown after the Scottish FA and SPFL took the decision to suspend all matches last Friday, before advising against training on Tuesday.
County took the step of suspending all academy and community programmes, before closing down their club shop to phone and internet orders only.
Staggies co-managers Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson have now instructed the squad to return to their family bases, given the lengthy period expected before a ball is next kicked.
All players, including Canadian midfielder Harry Paton, are now back at home with a directive to maintain their fitness.
Although the SFA and SPFL’s joint response group has confirmed football will not return until April 30 at the earliest, the government prediction the virus will not peak until June makes this unlikely.
With clubs still awaiting clarity on when the season will finish, the Staggies have vowed to honour the contracts of their current squad until a decision is made.
The doubt over whether the current season will be completed has fuelled talk of league reconstruction, with a proposal to introduce a 14-14-14 format in the SPFL believed to be on the table.
The proposal would involve automatic promotions for Dundee United and Caley Thistle, who occupy the top-two places in the Championship at present.
Former Inverness goalkeeper Michael Fraser would be in favour of a bigger top flight, insisting Scottish football must give as many of its clubs the opportunity to sustain full-time football as possible.
Fraser said: “Inverness deserve to go up if it’s the case.
“They have been second pretty much all season. They are obviously not going to catch Dundee United, but they are ideally placed to go up.
“It would be a huge boost, as it has been well publicised they are struggling financially.
“They have a great manager, in John Robertson, who has kept them second in the league more or less all year.
“With the stadium they’ve got, reconstruction would give clubs like Caley Thistle a chance.
“We need to help these clubs, because we don’t know how long they can go for otherwise.
“John is doing miracles with them, you can only go so long losing your players, and trying to keep full-time football going. It’s expensive and difficult to do.
“You could maybe help these clubs by making the league bigger – having a couple of games against the Old Firm each year could make a huge difference to a team’s finances for the year.
“They need to do something to refresh it – playing football four times a season is a lot.”
