IF I was an Inverness Caledonian Thistle supporter, I wouldn't be worrying too much right now.
For me, it doesn't really matter who takes up the vacant managerial position in the short-term, whether it is Kenny Shiels, Craig Levein, Chris Sutton, John Robertson or someone else. The forthcoming League Cup semi-final against Hearts provides them with a great chance to win the first major cup in their history; they are doing well in the league and have the same group of players that has served them so well for years. Re-signing guys like Richie Foran should keep things ticking over. If I was an Inverness fan, I would just be sitting back and enjoying the ride.
When I really would start worrying, though, is in the summer, because that is when the club will have to start turning players over again. Guys like Billy McKay and Aaron Doran will be in demand, and that is when Inverness might struggle to keep the continuity that Terry Butcher worked so hard to build up.
It isn't just one man, after all, who suddenly has to be replaced up there. In short order the club have lost Butcher, an experienced assistant manager in Maurice Malpas, and Steve Marsella, the chief scout who was responsible for recruiting most of the players from England who have done so well in the Highlands.
You could also throw into the mix Graeme Bennett, the vice- chairman who resigned this week after 12 years at the club, having raised concerns over the its direction and the "boardroom mix". He has Inverness at heart and will be a huge loss, but may be thinking he has got out at the right time.
Whoever the new manager is, he will have his own recruitment strategy and may want to take the club in a different direction. It is too easy to say that the new direction would automatically be down, but other than winning a cup, I am not sure things can get too much better for the Highland outfit.
Managers love taking a job where things are rock bottom, because they can put their stamp on things and improve the club's fortunes. It also appeals to go somewhere that has a really good and successful set-up in place. For me, the standing of that particular job is just about as high as it is ever going to be. People moan about the crowds up there, but without Rangers in the top flight, Inverness have become the second team in the league and things are never really going to get any better than that.
You can tell how well the club have been doing because the manager's position has become an attractive job, and I wouldn't have always said that was the case. There are some outstanding candidates, far more than there would have been four or five years ago. You see people of the calibre of Levein being linked with the post, a former Scotland manager, and I don't think you could ever have seen that kind of thing before Terry Butcher went there.
Inverness haven't rushed the appointment and I really like that. They have said they will have someone in place for next week's Scottish Cup tie against Morton which means a fortnight will have passed since Terry left. Chairman Kenny Cameron has looked at it diligently to make sure he gets the right man.
While young guys like Barry Wilson and Paul Sheerin are getting a mention, Butcher will be a hard act to follow so it would be understandable if they go for someone who knows a lot of players and will be able to attract them to the club.
That certainly applies to Kenny Shiels and while I didn't agree with a lot of what Kenny said at Kilmarnock, there is nobody who works harder in the game than him. I am not sure if he is the right man for Inverness, but I love his work ethic and he puts his heart and soul into his job.
I think Levein is at the stage of his career where Inverness could be a good move and he has a presence, the same way Butcher has. But there will also be other candidates, possibly some we haven't heard of yet, and Inverness need to make sure they get the right one because come the summer they will have their work cut out to retain their top performers and attract the same standard of player to the club.
IN last week's column, I said Scotland just had to make sure they got another result to keep the momentum going. The events of the last week could hardly have proved my point any better. Because let's be honest, our performance against Norway in midweek was as poor as any we have had for some time.
We hardly kicked a ball and had one shot on target, yet we still won the game, and it just shows you how far momentum and confidence can take you in football. The win keeps everything nice and positive but I will reserve judgment as to whether we have really turned the corner until I see if we have retained that kind of impetus when the Euro 2016 qualifiers begin next September.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article