Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Paul Chalk: Crunch month as Caley Thistle rebuild must start before Scottish Cup final

Contracts talks must begin now with many futures to be decided within the walls of the Caledonian Stadium after their promotion bid is ended by Ayr United.

Billy Mckay reflects on the end of Caley Thistle's Championship season arriving in the shape of a 2-1 defeat by runners-up Ayr United. Images: Paul Devlin/SNS Group
Billy Mckay reflects on the end of Caley Thistle's Championship season arriving in the shape of a 2-1 defeat by runners-up Ayr United. Images: Paul Devlin/SNS Group

The dust is still settling after Caley Thistle missed their chance of making the promotion play-offs from this season’s Championship.

But there must be plenty of action behind the scenes rather than on the pitch as the Inverness club prepare for their seventh successive year in the second-tier.

Friday’s final-night 2-1 defeat by Ayr United meant Billy Dodds’ weary squad, who have been in sensational form since late February, cruelly finished in sixth position.

Last term, they made it all the way to the play-off final before they ran out of steam in their sixth successive play-off game against St Johnstone in Perth.

This time, they have a few weeks to prepare for a shot at Scottish champions Celtic, who will win the treble should they beat ICT at Hampden on June 3.

These next few days will see the players put their feet up, but the boardroom might be busy as chairman Ross Morrison, chief executive Scot Gardiner and sporting director John Robertson thrash out where they go from here.

A loss of £835,000 from the latest accounts has been helped hugely by Caley Thistle beating Falkirk 3-0 to reach the cup final.

Sunshine trip to prepare for final

The club stand to take in a reported £1million from their unexpected run to the showpiece.

They  will use some of that money to allow Dodds and his squad to take a short warm weather break, possibly in Spain, as they seek suitable opponents in the build-up to facing the Hoops.

In the coming weeks, there are key decisions to be made with Dodds and the majority of his senior players out of contract.

Caley Jags head coach Billy Dodds. Image: SNS Group

Dodds urged supporters to look at the bigger picture on Friday night. He knows there are many who feel this season has been a failure. Sixth place, on the face of it, seems like that – and Dodds knows that.

However, he’s never experienced at any club in his professional career, an injury list like he had to face this season.

It took until after the New Year for his to have anything close to decent numbers and a bench not filled with youngsters.

At one point, he even had to field an almost exclusively under-18 team in their SPFL Trust Trophy tie at Hamilton, which they lost 2-0 in December. Goalkeeper Mark Ridgers was the only senior player involved.

Caley Jags defender Robbie Deas, left, is rumoured to leave the club this summer. Image: SNS Group

Who stays, who goes this summer?

Highly-rated defender Robbie Deas, who has been wanted by St Johnstone and Livingston, is widely tipped to move on, while others who have risen to prominence with a great run of form will have suitors.

Nathan Shaw, for example, in his first season in Scottish football, scored his 10th goal for the club against Ayr and might be on higher-placed rivals’ radar.

Players such as Danny Devine, Wallace Duffy, Scott Allardice, Aaron Doran, star striker Billy Mckay, Austin Samuels and Steven Boyd are all out of contract this summer, although they are still officially Inverness players when the cup final comes around.

Winger Tom Walsh and forward Shane Sutherland, who have working their way back from long-term injuries all season, are also out of contract, adding to the lengthy list.

Dan MacKay and Jay Henderson, two creators on the wings, look set to return to their parent clubs Hibs and St Mirren. Trying to get either or both back at Inverness seems unlikely.

Billy Dodds (left) and Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner when the manager was unveiled two years ago.

Title tilt is a must after six long years

Gardiner explained last week that the club would not waste any time in thrashing out deals once the regular season ended against Ayr.

There is now no play-offs to focus on and there is plenty for the management and players to ponder.

If Inverness can retain as many of these players, who showed their qualities in the closing months, they will be confident of having a real go at winning the league next year.

The Scottish Cup final is a mouth-watering prospect, but the goal at Inverness must be to return to the level where Celtic are opponents back in the top-flight. Looking from the outside in has been no fun for the ICT faithful.

Conversation