Inverness Caley Thistle head coach Scott Kellacher would back the idea of league reconstruction to avoid fixture repetition throughout the Scottish football season
Inverness Caledonian Thistle head coach Scott Kellacher says he would back the idea of league reconstruction to add more excitement to the fixture list.
The Caley Jags travel to Alloa Athletic this weekend for the third meeting between the sides so far this season.
It was only a few years ago that they met six times in a single campaign, with four Championship clashes as well as meetings in both the Scottish Cup and Challenge Cup.
Similarly, ICT will once again take on Queen of the South next Saturday just 11 days after making the journey to Dumfries earlier this week.
While facing the same team so many times in short succession, or across a campaign, can provide its own set of challenges for players and coaches, Kellacher says the biggest issue is that repetition fails to capture the imagination of the supporters.
“I’ve said it right from the start – even when I was assistant manager and a coach – that I think they need to make the leagues bigger and more interesting,” Kellacher explained.
“I do believe that if you were to put the top six teams in the Championship into the Premiership, it would make it more interesting because they could challenge.
“Places like Raith and Livingston are hard to go to, so I think a change like that would be really beneficial.
“It can be hard going when you’re playing the same team four or five times. We’ve got Queen of the South next week again, and you want to keep it exciting for the fans and the players.
“I would be right behind a change if there was ever a chance of it happening. I think it would be good for Scottish football.”
This Saturday’s match will cap off a week where Inverness have had three away games, totalling around 1250 miles on the road.
That will undoubtedly take its toll, but Kellacher says his squad are fully focused on the task at hand rather than feeling sorry for themselves.
“It’s hard to say we’re fresh in the middle of the week we’re on, and there has obviously been a lot going on this season but we’ve just tried to stay focused on the football,” he added.
“The boys have done brilliantly with everything that’s been going on and stayed focused on our goal, and I think they have bought into it with the fans.
“The word I use all the time is togetherness, and the fans came down on Tuesday night and they were great.
“They have been excellent home and away in terms of getting behind the boys, and that’s all we can ask to help get this club back to where we know it should be.”