Caley Thistle manager John Robertson accepts his budget will be reduced ahead of a second season in the Championship but he has dismissed concerns the club could be forced into administration.
Inverness are unlikely to gain promotion back to the top flight at the first time of asking, with the Highlanders needing to win at Morton tomorrow and hope second-bottom Dumbarton can triumph at Dunfermline in order for Caley Jags to secure a Premiership play-off place.
Should Inverness’ Championship status be confirmed, the halving of the parachute payment received when Caley Jags suffered relegation from the Premiership last summer will further reduce Robertson’s budget this time around.
The Caley Jags boss has been assured the club’s future is secure by chairman Graham Rae and his board of directors, who remain keen to attract investment.
Robertson said: “We face further cuts as teams who stay down in the Championship do but as far as administration is concerned we are not anywhere near that. As far as the board has told me it is a load of nonsense.
“The board has said before, and I’m sure will say agains, when you are a Championship club of our size with a fanbase of our size, it’s not as easy to maintain the finances as it once was. For a club of our size it’s very difficult.
“Look at a club the size of Dundee United – probably three or four times bigger than us – and the money they have spent, yet United are finding it hard to get out of the Championship.
“Hibs spent three years in the Championship and Rangers spent two years in the Championship.Clubs bigger than us are struggling with finances. You have to hit an area, eventually, that the club can sustain. That’s what we are doing, we are working towards a figure that can be sustained. Does the club need investment? Yes, it does but so does every club in the Championship.
“Ask any club in the Championship if they could do with £300,000 to £400,000 of investment, every one of them will say yes. That’s what we need to work to.”
Robertson has started preparing for next season with the capture of Queen of the South defender Shaun Rooney on a pre-contract, while midfielder Iain Vigurs has been offered a three-year deal.