‘When the fans are against the board, there is constant noise – and it’s hard to ignore that as a manager’ – Inverness Caley Thistle favourite Paul Sheerin backs Duncan Ferguson to get club back into Championship
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle legend Paul Sheerin admits it is difficult to manage a football club when there are tensions between the supporters and the board.
The current Kilmarnock assistant manager may have a better idea than most of what Duncan Ferguson is going through at the minute, having been in charge at Falkirk for six months in 2021.
Then, the club were languishing in League One, much to the frustration of their fanbase who were protesting against the Bairns’ ownership.
That scenario bears a striking resemblance to the recent turmoil at Caley Thistle, who have just dropped into Scotland’s third tier sparking a new wave of anger among fans.
Sheerin says those tensions are difficult to ignore as a manager, when the focus should be on putting together a challenge for promotion.
“It was surprisingly tough,” he recalled.
“I had 18 league games with Falkirk, and there was a real demand on them to get promoted. I felt I was the man to get them promoted, and I’m still confident I would have done that given time, but six months wasn’t long enough.
“When the fans are against the board, there is constant noise – and it’s hard to ignore that as a manager.
“For me it was slightly different, because there was a board change coming up just as I lost my job, so we had a plan as a group which was shifted very quickly.
“The noise from the fans with a new board coming in, it wasn’t easy but they were coming in fresh and they wanted a fresh manager, so it was probably a bit easier to move the manager on.
“All the leagues are tough – there are no givens when you go into any club, part time or full time.
“The club can probably take encouragement that Hamilton went down and bounced straight back up. I’m not sure in terms of finances if it was a gamble for Hamilton, but they tried to go straight back up and John Rankin has done a brilliant job to get that done quickly.
“That’s important, because you can look at how long it took Falkirk to get back up and it should have happened a lot quicker looking at the size of the club. It’s important to keep that continuity and bounce back as quickly as possible, as Hamilton did.”
Continuity is a key word in Sheerin’s thinking, as he believes the current Inverness management team of Duncan Ferguson and Gary Bollan deserve the opportunity to get the Caley Jags back into the Championship.
Sheerin believes the duo have not had enough time to implement their own plans as yet, given they took charge part-way through the 2023/24 season after the club had lost some key players last summer and decided to move on from Billy Dodds and Barry Wilson.
“The circumstances are frustrating for everyone, but Duncan and Gary have only had a short time to implement what they want,” he reasoned.
“I’m sure in time they will get the club back to where they want to be. To get to where they were in the leagues in such a short time was incredible.
“You see other teams trying to do it now and it’s not as easy as Ross County and Inverness made it look. You would probably look to be flirting between the Championship and Premiership, as they have done over the last few years, so it will be a real frustration that they’ve dropped down another league.
“I was disappointed to see them get relegated – everyone connected to the club will feel that.
“Last year I did the cup final for the radio, and that was an absolute pleasure. The circumstances of how quickly it has turned around since then is a blow for everyone at the club. It’s tough to see.
“Obviously there has been a lot of transition this year in terms of staff, with Billy and Barry going and Duncan and Gary coming in.
“Sometimes you need time to implement changes in philosophy and style of play, and they lost the spine of their team with (Robbie) Deas moving on and the experience of (Sean) Welsh and (David) Carson in January.
“Those things make it a bit tougher too, so sometimes circumstances throughout the year affect you and it’s clear that’s what has happened with Inverness unfortunately.
“I think the most important part now, which is easy for me to say from a distance, is that the club stick together with Duncan and Gary.
“The club are in good hands with those two, they have vast experience and I’m sure they will be hurting more than anyone. They will be desperate to right the wrong of this season next year, so stick behind those two.”
