Butcher targets leading trialists
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TERRY Butcher aims to bolster his squad in next 48 hours – and insists he’ll be adding players even after the SPL kicks off.
The Caley Thistle manager, who saw his top striker from last season, Adam Rooney, reject a new deal in the Highlands to join Championship side Birmingham City on Wednesday, is poised to rubber-stamp deals for some of the trialists he’s been running the rule over and he’s anticipating an exciting future for fans at the Inverness club.
On Wednesday night, a largely youthful ICT team strolled to a 7-0 romp at Highland League side Forres Mechanics, with trialists Andrew Shinnie grabbing a double, and defender Josh Meekings also in the starting 11.
Butcher has set his sights firmly on former Rangers midfielder Andrew Shinnie (21), who is the older brother of Caley Thistle defender, Graeme, plus former Arsenal full-back Kerrea Gilbert (24).
Gilbert and Shinnie also featured in Monday’s 2-0 pre-season win at Clach, but a number of trialists will be aiming to win deals in the Highlands in the coming days, especially if selected for Saturday’s friendly at Elgin City.
Ex-Ipswich Town defender Meekings (18), former Falkirk and Stirling Albion goalkeeper Michael Andrews (20), and ex-Real Mallorca B, Airdrie and Alloa middle man Jamie Stevenson (26) are all on trial at Inverness, along with French midfielder Jean-Francois Christophe (24).
New signings Tom Aldred (20) and 24-year-old striker Gregory Tade could also feature on Saturday if they shake off knocks, along with the return of Jonny Hayes.
Butcher told the HN: “It’s an early start this season and that’s meant we haven’t been able to get players from down south on loan and won’t do so until late July, early August. We’ll be adding to the squad when the season starts - I think a lot of teams will be like that. You probably won’t see the quality of the league improve until a wee bit into the campaign, and that’s for many teams, not just us.
“However, if we can get some players on board very soon, which I am thinking about very strongly, then I’ll be happy. By the weekend, we should have at least 15 players signed up, with more to follow.”
With a few trialists missing out on action at Clach and Forres this week due to injury, Butcher will give them every opportunity to shine this weekend at Elgin, or even a week on Saturday away to Irn Bru Division Two champions Livingston.
He explained: “We want to give them a fair crack of the whip. One or two that have come in have been injured, so they may not play until Saturday. We want to give them every chance because they have done a lot of hard work and if they have niggles or knocks, we have to be fair to them and look at them when they are as close to 100 per cent fitness as possible.
“They are all desperate to play, they wanted to play against Clach and Forres, but we had to say to them “if you were one of our contracted players, we wouldn’t play you because you’re not fit”, so we can’t risk it.
“Their enthusiasm and attitude has been first class and we saw on Monday how they pass the pass and how we want them to play.”
The manager said the accent will be on youth for the coming campaign, but he’s sure that is no compromise on quality.
He said: “Kerrea Gilbert, at 24, is almost like a veteran compared to some of our players. We have a number of young, but exciting players and they’ll get their opportunity here.
“We’re building up against good opposition all the time. We are playing away all the time, which suits our game very well, and there’s much more to come from this team. There is also more trialists to look at as well.
“We also have players such as Jonny Hayes to come back in, probably on Saturday against Elgin; Lee Cox is still out with a groin injury and Gregory Tade has a knock, so we have a few players still to come in. Along with the trialists we’ve got, there will be tremendous competition for places with a really high quality.”
