Inverness Caley in 'rescue mode' as players and staff furloughed

Inverness Caledonian Thistle are in ‘rescue mode’ as they announced the players and the majority of the club’s staff had been furloughed.

The promotion-chasing Ladbrokes Championship club said they are planning to ensure every employee will still receive their full wage, with the government’s job retention scheme covering 80%

But they made clear that the club are facing a fight for survival due to the lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

A club statement read: “We have agreed that almost all members of staff and every single player will enter into the government job retention scheme.

“This furlough scheme allows for the government to ultimately pay 80 per cent of the basic wage of everyone, and it is our intention to pay the additional 20 per cent to every employee.

“A very small operational team will continue to co-ordinate club affairs during the lockdown period.

“We have also been in weekly discussions with the SFA and SPFL and many of our fellow clubs and we will look to avail ourselves of all and any HMRC/government grants and deferrals as they become available to us because, in effect, we have entered into rescue mode with regards to our club.

“We are also exploring what we can do to try and raise any revenue we can in order to ease the ongoing financial challenge we face.

“Finally, we have been truly humbled by the extraordinary generosity of a number of our fans, who in the last couple of weeks have made amazing donations to the club from £10 to £10,000.

“All have been equally appreciated and you have not only made a real difference to our ability to get by but you fill us with the fire we will need to keep going in order to get through this pandemic so that we can all see the Caley Jags run out on to the pitch again, sometime in the future.”