Michael Fraser insists youth must be at the forefront of Caley Thistle’s plans to re-emerge from their current predicament.
Inverness have put out a last-ditch plea for investment, with the club ready to instigate preparations for administration by the middle of next week if nothing is forthcoming.
It leaves major concern over the club’s future, following their relegation to League One at the end of last season.
A more promising development last week saw former Caley Jags chairman Alan Savage, of Orion Group, confirm he is spearheading a six-figure drive to protect the club’s youth academy.
Former Caley Jags goalkeeper Fraser, who came through the club’s youth system, feels an opportunity has arisen following the abandonment of a controversial plan to relocate their training base to Kelty Hearts’ New Central Park.
Fraser said: “I can’t see how they are going to go forward without really focusing on their youth programme.
“It’s the ideal opportunity to do it, as they have dropped down to a league where most of the teams are part-time.
“With all due respect, it’s not the highest standard of league. The complaint most managers have, which is fair enough, is that they can’t get young players in because there’s too much at stake.
“This was an ideal opportunity to really get connected back to the local community.
“The team that knocked them out of the play-offs – Hamilton – have been doing it for years.
“They have produced a lot of good players and made money out of it.
“That’s the way Caley Thistle should be going – and the whole Kelty Hearts thing was just the total opposite of it.
“Sometimes you can see relegation as an opportunity.”
Local core can get fans behind Caley Jags
Fraser, who is from Drumnadrochit, feels having a strong core of local talent in the first team is the perfect way for Caley Thistle to reconnect with supporters during a difficult period for the club.
He added: “If the people of Inverness, and the fans who are feeling disenfranchised now, see four or five boys in that first team squad playing every week, that will certainly get them behind the club.
“Who doesn’t want to see guys you have produced yourself coming through? It’s the best thing at a club at any level.
“Managers sometimes think that with young players, they don’t get consistency.
“But young players need a manager that can trust them, and if they make mistakes back them and keep going.
“The big clubs don’t have to do it now, but if they do get one of their own through it’s massive.
“When guys are 16 or 17 it can be quite hard, thinking you are never going to get into the first team.
“But if you’ve got that opportunity, when you realise you are only one or two injuries away from getting a first team start, it’s a massive thing to keep you working hard and give you something to aim for.
“Once you get that taste of first team football, you can then start really pushing on.”
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