Scott Kellacher gives first interview as Inverness Caledonian Thistle head coach
“Whatever the club needs me to do, I have always been there for the club.”
Scott Kellacher says there was no question that he was ever going to turn down the chance of being head coach of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and attempt to guide them to safety in League One this season.
Kellacher was promoted as head coach on Wednesday after former boss Duncan Ferguson was axed after the club went into administration on Tuesday.
As a result of being deducted 15 points due to going into administration, Inverness are now on -3 points and are at least 13 points from safety, with Annan Athletic in ninth place before the Saturday night clash with Queen of the South.
Kellacher says he was approached by BDO, who have been appointed as administrators of the League One club, to take over as head coach on Wednesday.
He said it was a decision which he didn’t need any time to consider. He says he will give it his all to try and get Inverness out of trouble to at least secure their League One status next season.
Kellacher said: “Once I had a chat with the administrators when they asked me if I could take control of the team and its affairs, it was never in question for me.
“Whatever the club needs me to do, I have always been there for the club, no matter what they ask of me.
“I will give it everything I have got and the players will give it everything they have got.
“But it is a lot harder role in terms of what the task is.”
Kellacher, has had two coaching stints at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, his second period starting in 2013 as a coach under interim manager Duncan Shearer, before going on to work under John Hughes, Richie Foran, John Robertson, Billy Dodds and Duncan Ferguson.
He says that he has been through the highs with Inverness when they were in the Scottish Premiership and winning the Scottish Cup and is determined to get them out of the lows.
Kellacher said: “This club means everything to me. I have been through every emotion with this club. The highs of the Scottish Cup and playing in Europe to being relegated. It will be a rollercoaster, but let’s make sure we come off happy at the end.”
Kellacher said his squad have found this week hard to take. Along with administration and being deducted 15 points, they have also had to say goodbye to their former management team as well as five of their teammates.
But the head coach says the squad are determined not to feel sorry for themselves and will look to start picking up positive results.
He said: “It has been hard for the boys this week, with boys being let go. But that has happened, we had to take today on and we hoped for a better result.
“Once we are on the training ground this week, we will all be positive. The players aren’t feeling sorry for themselves, they can’t afford to be. But if we pull in the same direction, we will win more games than we lose.”
Kellacher’s management team in the dugout includes Billy Mckay who has been appointed assistant head coach along with club head of youth Ross Jack and senior academy coach Gordon Nicolson being part of the team taking charge of training and matchdays.
He is happy with the team assembled as they look to salvage back their points deficit and get off the bottom of League One.
Kellacher said: “The guys have been brilliant. Billy sees the way that I want to play and he has been terrific. He has stepped up and done a great job. Ross and Gordon have been excellent too and we have had a good two days with the boys.
“We were all desperate for today, but we know what is in store and lies ahead for us.”
Speaking about the 3-1 defeat at Dumbarton, Kellacher was impressed with how his team played for the first hour, but disappointed with how Dumbarton went on to win the game.
However, he said they are determined to learn from Saturday and improve when they face Kelty Hearts next weekend.
He said: “Hopefully in the first hour, people were seeing what we were trying to do.
”It is a harsh lesson in that we wanted to go and win the game.
“We need to win games of football, but if we attack together, we need to defend together as well.
“We maybe lost our way, but in the first hour, I thought we were terrific.
“We got forward and got crosses in the box. We have to be as positive as we can be. The first goal we can’t do anything about as it was some strike. The second goal we should have done better in picking him up. The third one we lost it in the middle of the park and should have stopped the cross.
“It has been hard for the boys. But in the first hour it was positive and something to build on. And I promise we will win more games than we lose. We just need to make sure we win enough to stay in this league.”
Hundreds of fans were in the away section cheering Inverness on which Kellacher said everyone at the club were grateful for. He says they are determined to try and put things right on the pitch.
“The fans were absolutely brilliant today, if they stick with us and the players we will be OK.
“We need to get this place back together, fans, players, all the staff at the stadium and Inverness as well.
“It is a massive challenge but we want to have a right go at it. We are not feeling sorry for ourselves, we look forward to next week against Kelty and look for three points.”