Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.
| File:Inverness Caledonian Thistle logo.gif | |||
| Full name | Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Caley Jags | ||
| Founded | 1994 | ||
| Ground | Caledonian Stadium Inverness Inverness-shire | ||
| Capacity | 7,512 | ||
| Chairman |  David Sutherland | ||
| Manager | Charlie Christie | ||
| League | Scottish Premier League | ||
| 2005-06 | Scottish Premier League, 7th | ||
|
| |||
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club is a Scottish football team based in the city of Inverness. They are currently playing in the Scottish Premier League and are managed by former player Charlie Christie after previous Manager Craig Brewster was appointed at Dundee United.
They play in blue, red and white strips, and are nicknamed Caley Thistle. Their home ground, Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, is situated beside the Moray Firth, in the shadow of the Kessock Bridge.
History
The club was formed as Caledonian Thistle F.C. in 1994 following the merger of Caledonian F.C. and Inverness Thistle F.C., both members of the Highland Football League, to fill a vacancy in the Scottish Football League.
After a promising start to their inaugural season, Inverness eventually finished sixth in the Third Division in Season 1994-1995. The following season, they finished third and, eventually, in Season 1996-1997, Caley Thistle won the Third Division Championship.
The club then spent two seasons in the Second Division and, after a closely-fought season, finished runners-up in Season 1998-1999; a feat which saw them promoted to the First Division.
Season 2003-2004 is regarded by many as Caley Thistle's most successful. In November 2003, they defeated Airdrie United 2-0, thanks to goals from Steve Hislop and David Bingham, to win the Challenge Cup and reached the Scottish Cup semi-final, losing a replay 3-2 to Dunfermline Athletic after a 1-1 draw at Hampden Park. However, the best was still to come. On the final day of the season, Inverness defeated St Johnstone 3-1, goals from Paul Ritchie, David Bingham and Barry Wilson and, as a result, pipped Clyde to the First Division title. This made them eligible for promotion to the Scottish Premier League. Things, however, were not as simple. SPL rules stated that all member clubs must have a stadium with a minimum capacity of 10 000 seats. Caledonian Stadium did not and this left the club's board with a dilemma: do they remain in the First Division (like Falkirk the season before) or do they groundshare with Aberdeen, over 150 km away? After consulting with supporters, the board decided the sacrifice of one season in Aberdeen would be worth it for Premier League football.
After a change in SPL rules during the 2004-05 season to only require 6 000 seats for SPL membership, Caledonian Stadium was made a valid SPL venue after a rapid ground expansion, which added two new stands. The stadium was renamed as the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in honour of the building firm which completed the work in only 47 working days. The chairman of Tulloch, David Sutherland CBE, is also chairman of the club. Caley Thistle returned to playing in Inverness, playing and defeating Dunfermline in their first SPL game in their own ground on 29 January 2005 2-0 thanks to goals from Barry Wilson and then player manager Craig Brewster.
The club are also famous for their Scottish Cup victories over Celtic in 2000 and 2003: winning 3-1 at Celtic Park (resulting in the memorable headline "Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious" in The Sun) and 1-0. Inverness have also knocked-out other SPL teams including Motherwell and Hearts. Over the first ten years of their existence ICT had been responsible for a total of 11 'shocks' and as a result had gained themselves a reputation as being 'giant killers', but following their promotion to the SPL, they have now become 'giants' themselves.
Managers
Caley Thistle have been managed by five managers since they joined the league:
Sergei Baltacha 1994-1995- Steve Paterson 1995-2002
- John Robertson 2002-2004
- Craig Brewster 2004-2006
- Charlie Christie 2006-present
Sergei Baltacha had been manager of Caledonian F.C. prior to the merger and he carried on as Caley Thistle manager after the merger in 1994. However, he only lasted one season, leaving in the summer of 1995 to be closer to his family in Perth.
Baltacha was replaced by Huntly manager Steve Paterson, who to date is the club's longest-serving manager. During his seven and a half year spell as manager, from the summer of 1995 to December 2002, Paterson succeeded in taking the club to the Scottish Football League First Division. He was also the manager who steered ICT to their famous 3-1 Scottish Cup victory against Celtic in 2000. In November 2002 Paterson was strongly linked to the vacant manager's position at Dundee United, however he chose to stay with Caley Thistle for another month, after which he left, along with assistant Duncan Shearer, to become manager of Aberdeen.
Paterson was replaced by Hearts legend John Robertson, whose two-year reign as manager was an exceptionally successful period. Under Robertson Caley Thistle won the Bell's Cup, gained another Scottish Cup victory over Celtic, this time 1-0 thanks to a goal on the stroke of half time by club record scorer Dennis Wyness and won the First Division Championship, taking the club into the SPL. Robertson eventually left to become Hearts manager and was replaced by Dunfermline's Craig Brewster as player-manager.
Brewster succeeded in keeping the club in the SPL. He also introduced new training regimes to increase player fitness and was successful in steering the club to good results against a number of established Premier League sides, including Rangers, Celtic, Motherwell, Hearts and Hibs. However, after a period of just over thirteen months at the club he left to become the new Dundee United manager after the sacking of Gordon Chisholm.
Former player Charlie Christie was appointed manager on 27 January 2006, after a successful spell as caretaker manager following the departure of Brewster, during which time Caley Thistle achieved a 3-0 over Livingston, a 2-0 Scottish Cup win over Ayr United and a record victory for the club in the SPL as they beat Falkirk 4-1 away from home.
However at the start of the 2006-2007 season, Christie started with a home fixture against newly promoted Saint Mirren which they lost 2-0 from two goals from Fist division top scorer John Sutton.
Famous players
- Craig Brewster
- Jim Calder
- Charlie Christie
- Bobby Mann
- Stuart McCaffrey
- Duncan Shearer
- Darren Dods
- Iain Stewart
- Ross Tokely
- Barry Wilson
- Dennis Wyness
- Richard Hastings
- Craig Dargo
- John Rankin
- David Bingham
Current Squad (season 2006-2007)
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Honours
- Scottish First Division(1): 2003/04
- Bells Challenge Cup: 2003/04
- Scottish Third Division(1): 1996/97