ICT History - SPL 05-08

2005-06: This was to be another successfull season for ICT. Even after an 8th place finish last season it was still all about survival but by the end of the season all thoughts were on trying to grab a very unlikely European Place even if it was only the Intertoto Cup. This season also brought another change of manager. Craig Brewster who had been a huge hit left to join Dundee Utd in January. It was well known in Inverness that Brewster was a Utd fan so it was no surprise when he left but the hatred for him leaving boiled up as soon as the door hit him on the arse on the way out of the Stadium. One piece of joy in the future would be that he made a complete mess of it and got the sack only to come back and get us relegated. So he ended up having the last laugh.

Charlie Chrisitie was the man to take charge the Caley Legend and in the second half of the season he guided us to 7th place in the table and remarkable we finished with more points the 4th placed Hibs. It just goes to show that the split is really not helping anyone.

2006-07: A year to finally try and break into the top 6 was what most fans were dying to see. Unfortunatly they we were not going to get what we wanted. The Charlie Christie effect was not so dazzling and I was never impressed with the way he got the team playing. On saying that he did not get us relegated. It was an 8th place finish. One down on last year but the performance levels were dropped dramatically. It was like we forgot you could have the ball on the ground. It spent 90% of the time in the air which is not what you want when you have a 5ft 5inch Craig Dargo leading your attack.

On the positive side we did manage to get our first win against Rangers and to make it even better it was at Ibrox. If Paul Le Guens days were not already numbered he was treading on paper thing ice after Graham Bayne hit the only goal of the game in the 71st minute.

This was also the year of one of the most soul destroying matches I have ever seen. Well it was untill a few months ago. It was the Scottish Cup (yes that again) Quarter Final at home to Celtic. Graham Bayne gave us the lead in the 18th minute and a fantastic Caley performance was looking certain to send us to the Semi Final at Hampden. It was 1-0 right up to the 89th minute when Stephen Pressly headed in from a corner. I was already planning me trip to Hampden and when the goal went in I changed that to Parkhead still looking forward to the day out. What I was definetly not expecting was Cilian Sheridan (who?) to pop up at the edge of the box and knock to ball in the back of the net. It was heart breaking. Going from 2 minutes from the Semis to defeat. The second worst match I have ever had to watch.

2007-08: All the optimism that the close season brings was immediatly washed away in the first 3 games of the SPL season. Home to Rangers and away to Motherwell and St Mirren all ended in defeat. If that was not bad enough Charlie decided that was that and resgined. I was glad to see hime go but what a stupid time to do it. Thanks for that mate. While the search for a manager was underway a 4th defeat in a row was on the cards. 3-0 against Dundee Utd who by then had got rid of Craig Brewster.

He was back at the Caledonian Stadium a few days later as the new manager for the second time of his career. Would it be as successful as the first time. I certainly hoped so and was pleased with the appointment. With the benefit of heinsight I would have had very different views but you cant get everything you want.

Things went from bad to worse. A 1-0 defeat away to Hibs and then a 5-0 humping by Celtic left Caleys record looking like this

Played 6 Won 0 Drawn 0 Lost 6

The fortunes did change and the next 2 league games brought 2 wins and lifted us off the bottom of the table. By the end of November we had managed to move up another place to 10th and with the whole Gretna administration thing going on relegation was never going to be a problem. Probably just as well Gretna were in the league this year.

A narrow 1-0 win away to Dundee United was followed by a 2-0 win at home to Hibs. The highlight of December was a classic home match against Celtic on Sunday the 16th. The match had everything - five goals, a spirited fight back, a red card, a penalty, a disallowed goal and a wonder save from home ‘keeper Mike Fraser. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had scored in both the 24th and 25th minutes to give Celtic the lead but when Rankin made it 2-1 just before the break there was hope. David Proctor headed an equaliser in 56 minutes, just eleven minutes before he was dismissed for a last-man tackle on Scott McDonald. In between the goal and the red card Don Cowie slid in to make it 3-2 for the home side and, despite the man disadvantage, Caley Thistle held on for victory. Celtic knew it was not their day when, in the dying minutes, Mike Fraser somehow pushed out a Stephen McManus header that looked destined for the top corner.
The purple patch continued six days later at Tynecastle when Hearts were defeated 3-2. Caley Thistle were 2-0 up, conceded two goals then Graham Bayne scored a winner two minutes into added time. Five SPL wins in a row led to a climb into the top six, albeit only for 24 hours until Aberdeen took a point from Rangers to go above ICT on goal difference. The only black spot of December was on Boxing Day when a flat performance at Falkirk led to a 1-0 defeat. It was much better three days later when Niculae scored twice in a 3-1 home win against Kilmarnock.
Everything was going fantasticly well. It was as if Brewster had never left.

Things did take a turn for the worst and by the start of April we had gone 11 games without winning, the bubble had most definetly burst. A 2-1 win against Gretna put an end to the woeful run and stopped ICT's slide down the table as we lied in 9th place. Well of the pace for a top 6 place. The split never made any difference to the table as we finished in what turned out to be a very dissapointing 9th place. Would Brewster get Inverness back on the right track. Things were not looking to good

ICT History - SPL Years 2004/05

After a summer of doubt ICT were finally told that they would be playing in the SPL. If they would groundshare with Aberdeen 2 and a half hours drive away. This was down to Caledonian Stadium only having 5000 seats compared to the 10000 needed in the SPL. However this was never going to stop Caley playing in the SPL. So Pittodrie here we come

Optimism was high around the city but was severly dampened after a 3-0 away defeat to Livingston on the opening day of the season. This lead to critcism from the journalists includinga certain Graham Speirs who said after the performance that he would eat his hat if we stayed in the SPL. I would have my hat waiting for him come May I hoped!!!

It looked like things would turn around on the first home game of the season. Well when I say home I mean in the loosest possible sense. But anyway Dunfirmline were the visitors and a 2-0 win was a great result for the 3000 small crowd. The rest of the month saw 3 league defeats and the start of the genereal hatred of Neill Lennon after diving in the box resulting in a penalty and Juanjo getting sent off. At the end of August we were in 11th place out of 12

The next 2 months were mixe for the club. only 1 point was taken in the next 5 games which saw ICT rock bottom but then the tide started to turn. A well earned away draw to Kilmarnock was followed up with wins against Dundee and Livingston. This lead to 9th place at the end of October. The win against Livingston turned out to be John Robertsons last game at the club as he moved onto Hearts where he was a legend so everybody understood why he left but we were deeply dissapointed. A 1-1 draw in the next match against Dunfirmline was a great result in the circumstances and meant our unbeaten run was extended to 4 games. The run was over in the very next match at Parkhead. Celtic hammered us 3-0 then a draw at Dundee Utd seemed to steady the ship.

New management came in. Craig Brewster was the man in charge of keeping us up and signs were promising in the first game even though it was a 2-1 win for Hibs. It got better as Rangers and Hearts both were held to draws at Pittodrie and the hope of a early move back to Inverness were on the cards as long as we had 6000 covered seats by January 29th 05. Dunfirmline at home was scheduled for that day. The last 2 matches of the year showed the new lease of life around the club. A 2-1 away win at Motherwell and a 0-0 away draw at Aberdeen strenghtened out position in the table.

The 2 new stands were up in no time and all looked set for the 29th of Jan. Before that 2 defeats at the hands of Kilmarnock and Dundee were dissapointing but revenge was in store for Livingston after their 3-0 win against us on the opening day. Back at Almondvale Inverness played some exquisit football and came out 4-1 winners. At last SPL football would finally be in Inverness and nobody was going to stop the good feeling around the club. A 2-0 win against Dunfirmline in front of a packed crowd capped the day off perfectly. At the end of January Inverness were 8th in the table 9 points ahead of bottom club Livingston

Only one league game was played in February and that was a 1-1 draw against Dundee Utd. Celtic were due to play at the Caledonian Stadium but a waterlogged pitch saw that game would never be given a chance. The draw did make the gap between Livingston 10 points so everything was still looking very rosy.

The first 3 games in March showed the confidence flowing through the Highland team. Hibs and Hearts were despatched 3-0 and 2-0 respectively, HAhaha John Robertson. Inbetween those 2 wins probably the best result of the season was a 1-1 draw at Ibrox. Bryan Prunty scoring a last minute equaliser. Relegation was starting to become an impossiblilty but the re-arranged match with Celtic brought us back down to earth. The Celts going back down the A9 with all 3 points

April was off to a bad start with defeat to Aberdeen but after wins against Kilmarnock and Motherwell dreams of a top 6 place were unthinkably on the cards. All be it with 1 game untill the split Inverness were 3 points behind Motherwell who were in 6th place but miracles have happened before. After 65 minutes of the deciding game it looked like a miracle would strike. Inverness were 3 up at home to Dundee while Motherwell were loosing 1-0. Only if the game finsihed then. Motherwell got a equaliser and drew the game securing 6th place for themselves while ICT tried to throw the 3 goal lead away but in the end we won 3-2. We gave it one hell of an effort but just a little bit too late. On the bright side going into the split that victory had made us unable to be relegated and at least 8th was guarenteed. Unfortunatly we could not go higher than 7th in the next 5 games but we were safe and that is all that mattered.

Things tailed off in the latter part of the season. We failed to win any of the 5 games and we dropped to 8th position and Kilmarnock took 7th but it was one hell of a season and SPL Football would be back in Inverness in 2005/06