Inverness Caley Thistle to sit down with current squad to discuss contract extensions after League One finale at Montrose, says head coach Scott Kellacher
Scott Kellacher says he hopes to keep most of the Inverness Caledonian Thistle squad together for next season - after confirming that the club can offer contracts to players already in the Highland capital.
The vast majority of Caley Thistle’s first team squad is out of contract at the end of the season, with Adam Mackinnon one of the very few under contract for the 2025/26 campaign.
However, with safety secured ICT know that they will be playing in League One next season.
That has allowed them to start thinking about what next season may look like, even if they will remain in administration until at least May 22.
Because of that, they will still be restricted in what new players that can bring to Inverness, but Kellacher believes that anyone currently at the club can be offered extensions immediately.
After this weekend’s final match of the season at Montrose, then, further conversations will be had around who the club would like to keep, and which players are willing to stay with the Caley Jags.
“I think the situation is that we can offer contracts to players who are already at the football club,” Kellacher said.
“Obviously we need to wait until we’re out of administration before we can try and speak to anyone else, so we’ll be looking in house first.
“We would have been doing that anyway – whether we were in administration or not, we would have been looking in-house first because the players deserve whatever comes their way because they have been brilliant.
“(The administration situation is) obviously not ideal in terms of trying to get players in, but there will be players out there who are desperate to come to this football club and play. It’s our job to try and recruit the right ones to make sure they fit into what we’re trying to do.
“I won’t hide the fact that the current squad have done so well, and proven how good they are in this league. I would like them to have a really good crack at trying to win it.
“What they’ve had to go through this year in terms of trying to keep us in the league, it’s a whole different situation that some people will never go through.
“We’ve won our own league in our own heads by staying up, but I would like a good few of them to stay around and try to see if they can take us to the top of the table.”
Although Inverness could be in celebration mode at Montrose with safety already secured, Kellacher insists that his side will be gunning for three more points to really add to the party atmosphere.
“I think you go into every game looking to win it,” Kellacher reasoned.
“As younger boys, you don’t get anything given to you on a plate, you’ve got to work for it.
“Our main focus is on going down to Montrose and look to win the game with the strongest team we can put out on the pitch.
“If things go to plan, the young boys might get a chance, but we’re not looking to change anything at all.”
