EXCLUSIVE: Ex Celtic striker Adam Brooks opens up on a ‘horrible day’ of redundancy at Inverness Caley Thistle as administrators BDO take 30 seconds to show him the door
Adam Brooks has told how he was dumped by crisis-hit Caley Thistle in a 30-second conversation with administrators.
Describing a “horrible day” at the Caledonian Stadium, the former Celtic striker is the first of five offloaded players to speak publicly about the redundancy experience.
He says that nobody acting in an official capacity for the club has since made contact with him.
Brooks joined Wallace Duffy, Flynn Duffy, Cameron Ferguson and Dundee United loanee Jack Newman in being offloaded by insolvency specialists BDO.
There were concerns that registration rules would render all five unable to join and play for other clubs before January, but special SFA dispensation has now been granted.
The 20-year-old prepared himself for the worst as he headed in for training last Thursday morning.
With the squad instructed to remain in their ordinary clothes before being led into meetings one-by-one, the atmosphere of normality in the changing room soon gave way to fear and anxiety.
Brooks was relieved for team-mates and, particularly, non-football staff members at the low number of departures, but admits it felt like “a kick in the guts” to learn he would be leaving a club where he made “friends for life”.
Brooks had rejected a contract offer from Celtic to join ICT in July 2023 after a prolific B team season in the Lowland League.
Although he only netted seven times for ICT in 41 appearances, 27 of those came from the bench with only 14 starts.
He said: “Thursday was a really tough day for everyone, although a few of us had mentally prepared ourselves for the worst. We had a feeling it was coming.
“I really felt for the (non-football) staff and the boys in the squad who lived in Inverness as they didn’t know where else they could go to play. I could potentially start afresh back home with family in the central belt, but the boys from up in the Highlands were really stressed out.
“People forget the level we’re at. We’re not Man City players with millions in the bank. We need a job to pay the bills.
“It was just a horrible day for a lot of boys.
“We came in that morning, prepared as normal, and then were told that the administrators were waiting.
“We weren’t allowed to train until they had spoken to us, so we were sitting there in our own clothes, getting called in one by one.
“For me, it was just a brief 30 seconds where they said they had to make redundancies and I got told to go. That was it.”
PFA Scotland has launched a legal action on behalf of the players made redundant, with CEO Fraser Wishart confident there will be compensation paid once the administration process is complete.
Brooks said: “The club has not made any sort of contact at all, which is usual for Inverness.
“I doubt I’ll get any contact from them, so I just have to work through the PFA Scotland lawyer.
“We have been kind of reassured that so long as the club doesn’t go into liquidation, we will get the rest of our playing contract or some kind of a lump sum, I’m not too sure.
“We’ve been reassured we will at least get something, as opposed to nothing.
“It has been a very unsettling time, but now it is hopefully an opportunity for me to kick on elsewhere.”
Brooks, who came north under Billy Dodds, has already entertained several approaches from clubs interested in speaking to him.
But after the chastening experience of life under Duncan Ferguson, he intends to take time to carefully choose where his future lies.
In the first few weeks of his Caley Thistle career, Dodds gave him three league starts and a host of cup and substitute appearances.
Dodds’ sacking that September ushered in months of frustration as successor Ferguson offered Brooks just three more league starts in 13 months.
Brooks said: “Billy Dodds was sacked after five or six games.
“The new gaffer had his own style of play and wanted his own players in. From the get-go, I got the feeling Duncan Ferguson didn’t want me.
“With me being just 19 at the time, I think he just saw me as a young lad, not a full professional at the club.
“I just had to keep going, hoping I’d get the chance.
“The frustrating part was feeling I’d taken my chance with a goal or two, then not getting another chance to play for a few weeks.
“You get so high and then you get so low again.
“I’ve had a few contacts from clubs asking to speak to me, but for the next move I really need to sit down with family and friends and properly think through the options that come my way.
“I need to make sure the manager is definitely keen to play me and I’m the right fit for them.
“I’m not looking at any particular level, I just want to get back out there playing and enjoying the sport that I love.
“The hardest part for me is I’ve made friends for life up there in Inverness in such a short period of time.
“The staff are just lovely people and I hope everything goes well for them, with no more job losses down the line.”