Ross County manager Malky Mackay insists he is looking no further than Premiership survival as his primary aim for the new season.
County enjoyed a fine campaign in Mackay’s first season in charge last year, in which they finished in the top-half for the first time since 2016.
Mackay has overseen another summer of transition at Victoria Park, with 10 new faces arriving so far.
County made a losing start to the new campaign, when they went down 2-1 to Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday. Their next match comes at home to Celtic on Saturday.
Despite last year’s success, Mackay insists securing top-flight status is his starting point in setting out his target for the campaign.
Mackay said: “The aim is to stay in the Premiership for Ross County.
“We have one of the smallest, if not the smallest budgets in this league.
“It’s a huge turnaround of players again this summer. Hopefully next year we don’t have that and it will only be two or three that need to come in, because we have people on contracts.
“That will mean the group will be a stable, steady squad.
“With the size of turnaround again this year, staying in the division is Ross County’s starting point.
“After that, we will see where we can go. It was the exact same last year.”
Standard of performance the key focus for Staggies boss
Despite the defeat against the Jambos, Mackay spoke of his pride at the Staggies’ performance.
County hit the woodwork twice in the first half, before Hearts secured the victory in the second half.
Mackay says displays of a similar standard will serve the Staggies well in the weeks to come, regardless of who they come up against.
He added: “What I do is concentrate on the performances. If you do that, eventually results come.
“Top-six was terrific for the club last year, it really was. I also see Hibs and Aberdeen spending big, so I’m fully aware of where everything is.
“We just need to make sure we keep putting in performances like we did on Saturday.
“That was a top team we played, both on Saturday and looking at the way they were clearly the third best team in Scotland last year.
“Our games against them last year were excellent. They were real toe-to-toe affairs – I think Robbie would admit that.
“We did the same on Saturday. We’ve got to make sure we put that sort of standard in every week.
“If we do that, we will see where we can go.”
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