Quick return to Premiership is important for Highlands as much as Ross County, according to Staggies chief executive Steven Ferguson
Ross County chief executive officer Steven Ferguson says it is vital that the club earns an immediate return to the Premiership – for the good of the Highlands as much as the football club.
The Staggies are already plotting their path back to Scotland’s top flight, and have bolstered their squad with the additions of Declan Gallagher, Gary Mackay-Steven and Ross Docherty ahead of a return to pre-season training.
Now, he has outlined why it is important not just for County, but for the region as a whole.
“The only thing we have been speaking about is going straight back up, so it’s extremely important to the football club,” he reasoned.
“It’s also so important for the area. We are very aware of what Ross County being in the Premiership brings to Dingwall and the Highlands, and we almost feel that we want to put that right and get back there at the first time of asking.
“That’s not any disrespect to the Championship, because there are some bigger clubs than us in there, but we’ve had a prolonged spell in the Premiership.
“The one time we dropped out, we got back up at the first time of asking, so we’ve been in this position before and we know what it takes on and off the pitch to win the Championship.
“You can’t underestimate the financial hit that dropping out of the Premiership will be for the football club – that will be substantial.
“It’s the same for the area and local businesses, but from our point of view it’s so important that we are smart with any money that we’re spending.
“We have to put the club in a position where we can win the Championship, but without spending money that we don’t have.
“It will be really important that we find a happy medium on that one so that we can use this season to rebuild, and refocus, and go again.”
Ferguson knows all about how County immediately bounced back last time they were in the Championship, as he was the club’s co-manager alongside Stuart Kettlewell.
Much like this summer, back then they added valuable experience in key areas, such as bringing current first team manager Don Cowie back to the club as a player.
There will be lessons, then, that can be applied to the upcoming 2025/26 campaign, but Ferguson believes the landscape has also changed in the last seven years that will mean adjustments may need to be made.
“Don was one of our senior players in that group that Stuart and I built, and now John Robertson has come in with a vast amount of knowledge and experience in the Championship,” Ferguson added.
“The Championship is renowned as a very tough league, but for me the difference for Ross County is that we will be in possession more, we are talking about trying to score goals instead of not conceding goals, and we’re talking about winning games instead of trying not to lose games.
“It’s a completely different mindset, and after the rawness and the pain of relegation we have to park that and focus purely on what’s coming next.
“Since the 2018/19 season everything has moved on, as football does, so what we did last time we were down won’t necessarily work seven years on.
“We need to make sure that we have moved with the times and we’re up to date on the trends of how the game and recruitment is right now, but the challenge is the same.
“We’re going to be up against some really competitive teams for that one automatic promotion spot. That hasn’t changed, but we need to be really focused and believe in what we’re doing to make sure that we are all under one badge, and everybody is pulling in the same direction towards the common goal, which is to win the Championship.”
