Lewis has been at Victoria Park for a total of 17 years as a player and assistant manager, so he knows the club inside out and is the natural choice to replace Graeme Stewart after Spider stepped down on Sunday.

A club spokesman said "this will give us the continuity we are looking for, Lewis is the ideal candidate to hopefully continue the success we achieved last season."

The Inverness-based Mackinnon was keen to stress that it will be “business as usual” when the players return for pre-season next month:

“We’ll pick up where we left off, we have a Highland League title to defend and that will be the main aim for next season.”

“Pre-season will be very similar to previous years, we’ve been the fittest team in the league in recent seasons, so I see no reason to change that when it’s working so well. We have a great squad of guys who also look after themselves well off the park.”

“I’ve been a manager for a long time in the construction industry, so I know how to manage people, while we have a well-established backroom staff to help share the load in Hamish Munro, Dessie Strong and Davy Young. We may look to add another coach to the management team at some point but will take our time over that one.”

“I’ve played and worked alongside Spider for several years now, and I’d like to think our football philosophies are very similar, so that should help with the transition. We have quite a few experienced professionals in the squad that can assist with that too.

“We will be looking to bolster the squad this summer and already have a list of potential targets that I can discuss with Garry (Farquhar) and the board.”