Caley Thistle's Scott Kellacher reveals plans to shape squad for next season ahead of push for League One title
Caley Thistle boss Scott Kellacher can't wait for this season to end – so he can start to shape his squad for a League One title tilt next year.
Inverness thumped league champions Arbroath 3-0 last weekend which, allied with relegated Dumbarton beating ninth-placed Annan Athletic, ensured ICT will avoid a play-off at the foot of the table.
Kellacher's young side will finish sixth if they win at Montrose in their final game of the season on Saturday, trading places with their hosts.
Former chairman Alan Savage will find out before May 22 whether his £800,000 bid to buy ICT has been accepted by shareholders.
Administrators BDO confirmed this week they will officially propose a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to creditors on May 22 – with their approval the final step to ending the Highlanders' time in administration.
Fans are keeping their fingers crossed for good news on that front, while Kellacher, who replaced Duncan Ferguson when administration started in October, will get down to business of getting players on board for next term.
It's understood, of the main first-team, only midfielder Adam Mackinnon is under contract beyond this summer, so there's plenty of work to do, although contracts cannot be offered to new players until post-administration.
Kellacher said: 'We will get Saturday out of the way and then sit down and speak to the players.
'We want to finish as high up the league as possible – that would be a great achievement.
'I think the situation is that we can offer contracts to players who are already at the football club.
'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.
'It's 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.
'That's the hand we've been dealt, we're not going to worry about that or feel sorry for ourselves.
'We'll be doing everything we can to make sure we've got things in place to move forward.'
Injured goalkeeper Musa Dibaga is thought to be high on the wish list, with the stop-stopper's agent this week telling The Press and Journal, he hopes a deal can be agreed.
Had ICT not been deducted 15 points for plunging into administration, they'd be in second spot going into this final weekend.
Kellacher says keeping as many of the group together will offer them a great foundation to go for glory in 2026.
He added: 'If we can keep a good number of this team together and add a few to help, we should be up there challenging.
'If you add on the 15 points we were deducted, we'd be second in the league.
'We'd have given ourselves a right good crack at it this season, but circumstances took over and it was out of the players' hands.
'We don't just want to stay in League One next year. We're a club with ambition and we want to get back to the top league.
'It might take us a while to get there but if we make small steps, that's what we're after.
'I won't hide the fact that the players 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 (the title).
'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.'
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