As jubilant Livingston supporters engulfed the Dingwall pitch, there was no hiding the sorrow on the faces of their dejected hosts.
The hurt was visible on local boy Cowie’s face as he watched the elated visitors celebrate on their turf, a pain according to Ferguson that will be felt throughout the club and wider community.
“We aren’t a big staff up here,” he said. “Everybody feels it and it has a ripple effect.
“What we need to realise as well is that it’s not just on the pitch.
“To not have any representation for this area has a real knock-on effect for everybody, not just the supporters, but the local business and the revenue that comes into the Highlands because of Premiership football.”
And like most clubs who suffer demotion, Ferguson said County will pay the price, although he hinted chairman Roy MacGregor will provide funds in an attempt to bounce straight back up.
“There will be a financial hit, you can’t hide the financial hit from dropping out of the Premiership,” he said, explaining they will look to minimise the “pain regarding people’s livelihoods”.
“To be successful in the Championship there needs to be investment. You also need to be really smart about how you go about your business as it’s an extremely difficult league with clubs that deserve a lot of respect, big fan bases and city clubs in there as well.”
Ferguson has been here before, of course. He was part of the management duo that achieved that very task in 2019, when he and Stuart Kettlewell navigated County back to the Premiership in one season. Something they are obviously hoping to replicate again.
“That goes without saying,” he said. “The clubs in the Championship are big clubs and they are clubs with ambition and we’ll need to match and better that if we want to be successful. That’s something we’ll need to work out how we do.
“At the moment it’s obviously really raw, Monday’s result, and we’ll need to let the dust settle.
“We need to be really honest about what happened this season and we need to find a solution and find how we can do it better.”
Watch all your favorite Amazon Prime Video Sports broadcasts live and free. Get access to NFL, NBA, NASCAR, WNBA, and more – all included with your Prime membership!