When I went down the dressing room was toxic but our boys are in this battle together
ICT v KILMARNOCK Kev suffered Cardiff chaos and vows Caley have the fight stuff My run around can spark turnaround
KEVIN McNAUGHTON knows a relegationdoomed dressing room when he sees one. The veteran defender’s dark memories of his final days at Cardiff under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ensure that.
Luckily for Inverness, what McNaughton sees now at the Caledonian Stadium is a world away from the “toxic” atmosphere at the Bluebirds when they crashed out of England’s Premier League in 2014.
Egos clashed, signings failed to gel and team spirit evaporated.
For all Caley Thistle’s lows this term the ex-Aberdeen and Scotland star is adamant it is all sweetness and light compared to those bitter final throes in the Welsh capital.
McNaughton, brimming with optimism after last weekend’s victory over Hamilton, said: “I was relegated with Cardiff in the Premier League but to be honest, wasn’t playing that much.
“It’s weird though – I don’t get that same feeling here. We’re bottom of the table but there is belief we can get out of it.
“Last weekend’s victory helped massively, coming off two bad results and two pretty terrible performances.
“The atmosphere in the camp does dip and the only way you can KILMARNOCK boss Lee McCulloch was so hurt by the 1-0 loss to Dundee at Rugby Park last weekend that he pounded the streets of Glasgow.
McCulloch labelled Killie’s display as the worst since he took over from Lee Clark in February.
The former Rangers star said: “I went home and did a 10km run that night out sort it is by winning. What we did last Saturday has freshened up the place.
“At Cardiff the low mood was way more apparent. Solskjaer came in as manager and brought a lot of new players. It just didn’t settle.
“The atmosphere in the changing room was terrible – it was pretty toxic. It probably showed on the park because we ended up being relegated.
“Here, there is a decent togetherness. We were naturally low after the Ross County match but a victory really lifts the place.
“Unlike Cardiff, we have a good core of players who have been through a lot together – Ryan Esson, David Raven, Carl Tremarco – all guys with decent experience.”
McNaughton knows the value of a win at Rugby Park today. With something sure to give between Hamilton and Motherwell, an Inverness win would cut the gap on second bottom to either one or two points.
McNaughton added: “If we get something at Killie it would certainly put us in the mix again.
“The teams above us are looking over their shoulders now. We’re putting a bit of pressure on them and victory this weekend can only increase that.” of sheer frustration. The nature of the performance hurt and we told the boys that. So we’re asking for a reaction this week.
“On the run I was just thinking about what we could’ve done better. I went home, put it in the diary and tried to learn from it.
“Last week’s display was totally out of character. It was by far the worst we’ve played, by far the worst we’ve worked. We just didn’t look ourselves.”
Killie host bottom side Caley Thistle today and McCulloch added: “The big word for us is complacency, we just need to get a result.
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