Ross County chief executive Steven Ferguson acknowledges Staggies need to get transfer window right to compete in next season’s Scottish Premiership
Steven Ferguson insists Ross County will learn from the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership season in a bid to ensure they do not end up back in a relegation fight next year.
While there was plenty of reason to celebrate last weekend’s one-sided victory over Raith Rovers, there was also an acknowledgement from various people that a second consecutive play-off was not where the Staggies wanted to be.
Next season’s goal, then, will simply be to finish higher up the table and remove any late or post-season drama.
To achieve that, thoughts have already turned to summer activity and what the transfer window could look like in Dingwall.
“There are definitely learning curves within the season that we would be crazy not to look at and learn from,” County chief executive Ferguson said.
“We’re obviously a little bit behind from where we want to be externally, but there’s been a fair bit of work going on behind the scenes to make sure that once we knew what league we would be playing in next year, we would be ready to go with what we wanted to do.
“We’ll pick that up with Don and the group of staff, and we have a number of players still under contract.
“There are gaps within that squad that we’ll need to fill, and we need to make sure we fill it with the right players that compliment the group we’ve already got and bring something to the table themselves.
“It was part of our summer plan last year that we weren’t going to be in a position to have a massive turnaround of players, but you never know with football.
“We do have a number of players in contract, so we have a core squad that is at the root of where we are.
“We need to make sure we get it right, because trying to compete – not just stay – in the Premiership is tough. We need to make sure we equip ourselves the best way we can, and get everybody behind us and supporting what we are trying to do in Dingwall.”
While the vast majority of County’s squad are signed up for next season, there will inevitably be speculation about what the future holds for some of the Staggies stars.
Perhaps nobody has been more impressive over the last 12 months than Simon Murray, who ended the season with 23 goals across all competitions, and Ferguson is adamant that he does not want to lose such a pivotal player.
“We certainly don’t want to lose Simon Murray, that’s for sure,” he stressed.
“We invested in Simon Murray, and his contribution over the period of time he has been here is fantastic.
“I’m never one for singling out individuals, but Simon has been a real talisman for us, not only in the goals he has scored but also in his application and his all-round enthusiasm for the game. It’s infectious, and it drags people along with him.
“He has been a credit to himself and his family with the way he has conducted himself this year, and we would be crazy not to want that at our club in the next few years.
“When you’ve had a successful season like he has had, people will recognise the goals he has scored.
“In terms of Scottish strikers, he is second in the Premiership, and for him to do that at Ross County tells you that individually he has had a really good season. He deserves a lot of credit for that.”
