Richie Hart says Caley Thistle must get fans back on side

Former Caley Thistle midfielder Richie Hart is urging his former club to reach out to fans and start to rebuild bridges.

Since being relegated to League One in May, there has been a series of bad news for supporters.

A controversial plan to shift their entire planning operations to the home of Kelty Hearts in Fife to attract a higher standard of players amid high accommodation costs was met by fierce resistance and binned.

Many players departed with some claiming the club did not communicate with them before they received their P45s by email.

Among those leaving the club were goalkeeper Mark Ridgers and winger Aaron Doran, who criticised Caley Thistle for twice cancelling a knee operation he required.

The outcry from this led to a fundraising campaign launched by ex-player Shane Sutherland to pay for the surgery, with ex-boss John Robertson also raising cash via a special Scotland jersey donation to help cover rehab costs.

Investment plans sunk at a high cost

Two key investment plans also fell by the wayside. An anticipated £3.4million windfall from a battery storage farm was reversed by Highland councillors.

That blow was followed by the loss of a contract with Norwegian renewables company Statkraft over a scheme to operate a park and ride scheme at the Caledonian Stadium’s north car park during construction of a Loch Ness hydro scheme.

Chairman Ross Morrison stepped down from his role while chief executive Scot Gardiner, who fans have urged to quit, is serving his notice after tendering his resignation.

A loss of almost £600,000 from the latest set of accounts was confirmed this week, with the bid for fresh investment crucial for the cash-strapped club to survive. Positive talks are said to be advancing.

It has meant manager Duncan Ferguson has little or no money to work with as ICT pledged to go largely with young Highland talent in the third tier next term.

Kelty plan ‘was an absolute joke’

Hart, who played for ICT between 2002 and 2006, helping them reach the top-flight, said the club’s failure to address or acknowledge mistakes has led to continued fans’ frustration.

He said: “Caley Thistle have been forced into taking through the younger players. Time will tell whether they will be able to get themselves out of League One. That will be very difficult.

“There still seems to be a lot of ill-feeling amongst the fans with the state the club is in – and rightly so.

“I had a feeling the reaction to the plans of moving their training base to Kelty would force them to back down. The whole plan was an absolute joke. I couldn’t see that ever getting off the ground.

“Since then, it doesn’t appear the club have learned many lessons, certainly not on the PR-front with the way they’ve treated legends such as Aaron Doran and Mark Ridgers. The club have continued to kick the can down the road.

“They’ve had the chance to come out and say they’ve got things massively wrong. They must realise they need to get the fans back on side and do more to engage – but they’ve not done that. It honestly blows my mind.”

Chance to learn from Rovers’ friendly

Hart accepts facing Raith Rovers, who finished second to Dundee United in last year’s Championship, in a friendly on Saturday is a tough test.

Raith lost the Premiership play-off final 6-1 on aggregate against Ross County in May, and will be expected to challenge for their title again this season.

However, his advice is, no matter what the scoreline in what is only a bounce game, the exercise is mainly about getting sharp for the real action starting in the Premier Sports Cup at Annan Athletic next weekend.

He added: “You can never read too much into pre-season friendlies.

“I remember when I was at Brora Rangers at the end of my career and we beat Ross County 2-0.

“They went on to win the league that season, so these games are all about getting minutes in and trying one or two things out.

“It will be a test for the team and it will let them see what sort of standard they need to get up to, especially those younger players.”

Inverness lost all four Championship fixtures to Raith by a single goal last term, with Billy Dodds in charge for the first one and Ferguson the boss for the other three.

ICT’s final warm-up fixture comes this Tuesday when they travel to Brora.