Billy Dodds is urging Scottish football chiefs to look at the punishing end-of-season schedule, which is leaving players dead on their feet and vulnerable to injury.
The Inverness head coach is concerned as his play-off chasers in the Championship are blasting through a seven-fixture month, which continues at Cove Rangers on Saturday.
The crammed calendar includes their Scottish Cup semi-final against Falkirk at Hampden on April 29, and should ICT get past their League One opponents, they will play Celtic or Rangers in the final on June 3.
If the Highlanders were to reach the Premiership play-off final, as they did last year when they lost to St Johnstone, it would mean fixture chaos next month – and an even more energy-sapping schedule for the Inveness players.
As it stands, the play-off final first and second legs are scheduled for June 1 and June 4, so those would need to be shifted by the SPFL if ICT are Scottish Cup finalists.
Last term, once Inverness had come through six play-off games, concluding with defeat in Perth on May 23, they had just a few weeks off before pre-season kicked in and their League Cup campaign began on July 9 with a 1-0 victory at Kelty Hearts.
The Caley Jags have had a horrendous injury list for a large part of the campaign, with as many as 12 first-team players sidelined some weeks.
The feeling within Dodds’ backroom staff is that the lack of recovery time could well have played a part in players picking up all sorts of injuries this term, and he doesn’t want to be facing the same problems looking ahead to next season – whatever division Inverness are playing their football in.
Dodds said: “That is how I feel, and our head of performance Ross Hughes feels the same way – the turnover from one season to the next is scary.
“Although you can’t identify what type of injuries (could be down to the schedule) because of the time which has passed, with the scale of injuries we got, there is no doubt it came from having a lack of rest period between seasons.
“It is scary, you have to get them fit, too, (in pre-season and) it could just be three weeks – it is not enough.”
‘Bewildering, scary close season’
Dodds fears a repeat could happen in terms of injuries if the fixtures stack up in the same manner, but with a Scottish Cup final a possibility this time, too.
He said: “When we finished last season, there was not enough rest for our players. That is why we got a lot of injuries. We had meetings about it, and it could be the same this year.
“It is hard enough on the modern-day player with the amount of games without having only a small period to rest up. It’s bewildering and scary how short the close season is getting.
“The heavy schedule at the end of last season, cost us dearly at the start of next season. I don’t think there is a big enough turnover to let us rest, it is going to happen again this year.
“This cup semi-final is coming up, and if we are fortunate enough to make the final, I don’t know how we are going to manage that month.”
Football chiefs have to address issue
When asked whether Scottish football authorities ought to be looking at this issue, Dodds insisted: “They have got to try. I am not thinking we are through (to the final) at all.
“We have a tough semi-final against Falkirk and we are going to have to be at our best.
“(But) fixtures will clash if we make the play-offs and the final.
“They must get these things right – people ridicule us (Scottish football) enough. They demean our game at times.
“We have a good product up here, but there are things which need to be looked at.
“It is becoming mental the time we have to recover, (and) no doubt you have to look at the welfare mentally and physically (of only) having that amount of time to recover.”
ICT ‘success is not being rewarded’
With a Scottish Cup final and the chance of promotion still alive for ICT, Dodds reckons his players have the odds stacked against them due to the packed diary, with his players facing punishment if they get the results to reach the play-offs and a cup final.
He said: “There is so much hard work, especially if you are successful reaching the play-offs.
“Success is not being rewarded. It can be a burden if you are starting the next season.
“I feel even if we don’t make the play-offs and go out of the semi-final, it is still a hectic schedule. The boys don’t get rested.
“It does worry me. We have spoken about it as a staff. It is there, and we have to face it if we win certain games.
“Last season, we didn’t get enough rest and picked up injuries. You are not getting that amount of injuries in a group for no reason at all.”
ICT, boosted by Tuesday’s 2-0 home Championship win against Arbroath, are now two points behind fourth-placed Ayr United and just three points adrift of third-placed Partick Thistle.
Saturday sees them travel to basement hosts Cove, while Partick and Ayr meet at Firhill.
Conversation