Inverness Caley Thistle boss urges players to block out talk of huge financial losses
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Head coach Billy Dodds insists Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s players cannot afford to get distracted by off-pitch headlines around the club this week as they prepare to travel to Ayr United.
While there are knock-on effects of what the financial situation means on the pitch, and vice-versa, there is very little Dodds is able to do about it immediately.
Instead, all he and his players can focus on is the trip to Ayr tomorrow afternoon as Inverness look to move to within four points of the promotion play-offs.
“It’s not something that I want to get caught up in to be honest,” Dodds said.
“It does show how difficult it is to run a club outwith the Premiership, and it’s nice to hear the chairman be positive. We can’t get fixated on it. Yes, you think ‘wow’, but it was nice to get positives at the end of the message.
“I’ve got to block it out, and the players have to block it out.
“If they don’t, it’s going to hinder us on the pitch – it’s as simple as that.
“If we get worried about the business side of the club, then it’s going to affect us, and we’ve got our own problems to focus on just now in trying to get points on the board.
“Whether they think about it or not, it has to be blocked out to make sure it doesn’t transfer on to the pitch.”
It is only natural during times of business uncertainty for people to be concerned about the viability of jobs in the long-term.
Dodds, then, expects some of his players will have had conversations with families about what is going on behind the scenes at the Caledonian Stadium, but he is confident the squad is professional enough to focus on the task at hand on the pitch at Somerset Park tomorrow afternoon.
That said, he is happy to have conversations with any player who has questions about the predicament ICT find themselves in.
“There will be noise and chatter, but you’ve got to make sure you focus on your job because that’s how you get your best performance levels,” Dodds added.
“If you get that, you’ll get results, and that’s what we have to concentrate on.
“Getting caught up in all that chatter would be a dangerous game, but I’m sure the boys won’t do that.
“They’ll look at it, they might have a chat about it with their families, but I don’t think it will affect them.
“I haven’t had a chance to speak to the players about it yet – if anyone wants to ask me about it, I will.
“It was a positive message from the chairman, and that helps.
“If the players want to chat to me about it, we can, and I might have a word but the news only came out on Wednesday.
“I don’t think that will be needed with this bunch of boys, because they just want to do well and focus on the next game.”
