DUNCAN Ferguson has taken a massive 40 per-cent wage cut to help protect staff jobs at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
It is understood, in total, the Everton legend and former Rangers and Newcastle striker has voluntarily accepted a reduction of almost two-thirds of an initial £,3000-a-week pay packet on replacing Billy Dodds last September.
The backdrop to the slashed wages, as Ferguson spelled out yesterday, has been working under the “toughest conditions I’ve seen or ever heard of in football” amid the League One club’s financial chaos.
Just two days after his arrival at the then-Championship club, it is believed Ferguson was asked to accept £2000 instead of the £3000-a-week promised by past chairman Ross Morrison and ex-CEO Scot Gardiner.
And in the last couple of days, with club consultant Alan Savage hammering out a deal to stave off administration, the 52-year-old volunteered another 40 per-cent cut, taking his pay down to £1200 a week.
The club was relegated in May and there were rumours of Ferguson’s wage being cut as a consequence.
But he said: “I didn’t have to do anything and it had nothing to do with relegation.
“I have taken a big pay cut of 40 per-cent in the last couple of days to help the club and, more importantly, to help the staff.
“It is a big reduction on my wage to try and help out.
“I’ll always be here to help the staff at the club and I’ll always try to help the club, 100 per cent.”
Ferguson experienced a culture shock on arrival at Inverness, despite having most recently been at another troubled outfit, Forest Green in England.
He has never previously spoken about the shortcomings at the club, but with a new regime now plotting its future, he was prepared to address some of the issues faced.
They include a basic lack of training equipment, medical care for players and other routine provisions like player lunches.
Ferguson said: “The conditions I’ve worked under have been the toughest of my career.
“It is the toughest I’ve seen or ever heard of in football, really, at any other club.
“The structure behind me has not been good. It has not been good for me and it has not been good for the players.
“For me, it is all about player care – looking after the players as best we possibly can. That’s not really happened.
“Look, we’ve not had a physio.
“The club, to be fair, have been trying to get physios in ad hoc and our training regime has had to revolve around the availability of physios.
“If we can get a physio to come in at 2pm, we train at 2pm. It’s not been great.
“I could talk about lots of other things like sports science. We’ve not had any of that. Things like GPS trackers, there’s nothing like that.
“But it is what it has been. I’ve had to work under these conditions with the players and the players, to be fair, have made the best of it. They’ve cracked on and been very professional.
“We’ve done the best we possibly can. It’s not ideal.
“I’m sure as time goes along, these things will be remedies.”
Interim CEO Charlie Christie has vowed to help Ferguson on those fronts, but the immediate focus has been ensuring financial stability.
He added: “I think they have a big job on their hands, haven’t they, to tidy the whole thing up.
“They have gone a long way towards doing that (in terms of restructuring club finances) already.
“I’m sure it will all move down to my department and things will start to improve as it goes along.
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“But they have secured the club and fended off the threat of administration, which is great.
“I’m sure in time they will start to secure physios and sports science departments, all the basics that other clubs take for granted.”
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