Caley Thistle captain Billy Mckay wants to lead the Highlanders back to the Championship with the arrival of new owners offering fresh hope.
This Saturday, Inverness will kick off their League One campaign at home to Dumbarton.
In a summer of players exits and financial turmoil behind the scenes, the club’s record goalscorer and club legend remains confident better days lie ahead.
On Friday, weeks of speculation over a potential takeover ended when ICT confirmed their new majority shareholders – Seventy7 Ventures, a Berkshire-based sports, entertainment and leisure group.
ICT says more details about the deal will be confirmed in the coming days.
‘Massive potential at this club’
But Mckay is determined to continue to play a key role, as the squad – including 11 first-team players aged under 20 – prepare for a chase for promotion.
When asked about the events of the past two months, the 35-year-old said: “It’s been tough and not how I wanted it to be.
“When I re-signed for the club, the ambition was to get back to the Premiership, certainly not to go down a division.
“Yes, it’s tough, but I’m here and I want to be here. I want to help this club progress and I want to help these young lads.
“Also, I want to help the new lads, whoever comes in, to take this club back to where it should be.
“I still believe there’s massive potential at this club and for everyone to come together now with things behind the scenes looking positive.
“We need to be pushing in the same direction and be pushing for the League One title this season.”
Gap between Dundee and ICT showed
On Saturday, Caley Thistle’s Premier Sports Cup campaign drew to a close with a thumping 6-0 defeat against Premiership Dundee at Brechin.
It was an equal worst club defeat, with Celtic three times dishing out a 6-0 result (in 2010, 2014 and 2017), as well as Airdrie in 2001.
Inspired by hat-trick scorer, former Ross County striker Simon Murray, Inverness were a goal down in 47 seconds and 5-0 behind at the break.
The rout left ICT in fourth spot in Group D on four points behind Dundee, who won all four games, Annan Athletic and Arbroath. Bonnyrigg finished fifth.
Mckay, who has netted 112 goals in 297 games for ICT, said: “It was a tough afternoon, with a lot to learn from. A really poor start set the tone for the first half.
“It’s a learning curve and we know where we are as a club.
“We’ve loads to improve on and it’s obviously a very young team.
“Things are now moving forward behind closed doors, we’d expect the team to get some reinforcements.
“We came out in the second half, and we didn’t disgrace ourselves.
“That was the (half-time) message – to make sure it was not double figures or close to that.
“We have to do better and the two levels between the sides showed.”
‘Two or three players catch the eye’
As skipper, Mckay will rally the younger players after the weekend’s loss, but stressed everyone shares the blame for the below-par showing against Dundee.
He added: “The younger players have been great until this point and there have been real positives.
“It’s a tough situation as a senior player as you don’t want to come down on them too hard, but you also need standards, so it’s about finding the balance.
“It wasn’t just about the younger lads on Saturday, it was all of us.
“With everything that’s gone on with the club over the summer, two or three of these younger players have really caught the eye.
“That’s something we can take into the new season and I’m sure they will be in and around the side this season.”
