Interim Inverness chairman Scott Young is hopeful administrators will leave the club with a “fighting chance” of League One survival after their 15-point penalty.
The Highlanders go into Saturday’s crunch league game at Dumbarton on Saturday on minus-three points, rooted to the foot of the table, and a dozen points adrift of their ninth-placed hosts.
The SPFL points punishment was triggered automatically after the financially-struggling Caley Thistle officially confirmed they had entered administration on Tuesday night.
ICT will continue this season with whatever playing squad and management administrators BDO leave them with – with the firm, who will hold a press conference at noon on Thursday, handed control of what happens next in terms of personnel kept on within the Caledonian Stadium.
An uphill battle to stay in Scotland’s third-tier starts away at Dumbarton, but Young, speaking on The Wyness Shuffle fans’ podcast, believes Inverness will retain a group of players who will be competitive.
He said: “Ultimately, the administrators will have control. They are looking at the financial situation, which overrides other things.
“(But) they want to give us a fighting chance on the pitch.
“Hopefully they will.
“From the football side of the club, they will take input from the likes of CEO Charlie Christie and more learned colleagues than me. We will help where we can.
“The administrators seem quite amicable. They want to do a good job. They want to see the club come out of it and we want to be competitive on the park to try and stay in this league.
“There are only three of us left on the board, and they will allow us as much input and advice as we can, for what that is worth – but they do have to look at the whole picture.
“There is no point of them getting rid of all the staff and playing staff because then there is no football club. We need staff to run it day-to-day.
“We’ve still got home games here, so we will still be selling tickets and merchandise as we continue.
“So the club will be run by the administrators, hopefully taking on advice from us and other people within the club.”
‘I have no idea what the playing staff will look like come the end of the week… whether changes will be made that soon’
ICT secured their second league victory of a troubled season at the weekend when Danny Devine’s headed goal earned a 1-0 victory over Annan Athletic, a result which took them to just outside the top four before the points punishment hit.
Young praised the players for putting their uncertain futures to one side and getting the win, with every point so vital between now and May in a fight to remain the division.
He said: “The players got a great result on Saturday. Three points was a nice way to end such an awful week.
“Dumbarton won away from home on Saturday at Arbroath, so they will be looking upwards.
“We have to try and keep winning games. I have no idea what the playing staff will look like come the end of the week.
“I don’t know whether changes will be made that soon. That will be up to the administrators.
“I’m hoping we will still have a squad capable of winning, and I’m sure we will have.
“The boys have been great – they’re all one. They’re acting like one and they know what they have to do, which is go out and get the points.
“Hopefully the fans will start coming back over the next few weeks if we can continue to win games.
“I know it has been said the 15 points deduction means we will be going down to League Two, but if we win on Saturday, we will still have 25 games to play, so I think we will have a great opportunity to stay in this league.”
Assurances given over club licence
Young explained the football authorities have assured Caley Thistle they can continue to compete in the SPFL – despite their SFA licence dipping down a level as a result of administration.
He said: “We have just renewed our bronze licence – so this could not have happened at a worse time.
“From what I’ve been told, we lose that licence and go down to (entry) level.
“We were obviously concerned we’d maybe not be allowed to play, but (the SPFL/SFA) don’t wany any team not being able to fulfil their fixtures for the season.
“We’ve been given an assurance, as far as I’m aware, that there shouldn’t be an issue going forward.
“Hopefully we can continue to play as we’re doing at the minute, then reapply for a (bronze) licence down the line.”
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