Charlie Christie believes the foundations of Caley Thistle’s impressive Scottish Cup pedigree were laid prior to the club’s 29-year existence.
Christie has been associated with Caley Jags since the club was formed in 1994, when he played as a midfielder.
Having served as manager between 2006 and 2007, Christie is currently the club’s academy director.
Caley Jags have enjoyed some memorable Scottish Cup experiences during their short history, most notably winning the competition with victory against Falkirk – a game in which Christie’s son Ryan played – in 2015.
Christie himself won the man of the match award when Steve Paterson’s side famously defeated Celtic in 2000, with Caley Jags going on to reach five semi-finals since then.
Inverness players were eager to test themselves in Scottish leagues
At that point, just six years after the amalgamation of Caledonian and Thistle, the newly-formed club was still fresh from being given the opportunity to compete in the Scottish leagues.
Christie represented both previous clubs in the Highland League, and he says north-based players had long been eager for a crack at mixing it at a higher level.
He said: “It was very topical in my household.
“I remember in the 1970s when Thistle were outvoted by Ferranti Thistle. I was eight or nine years old, and my dad spoke about it fervently at the time. He was fuming that Thistle hadn’t got the vote.
“I kept an eye on it. I always thought it was an absolute nonsense that Highland clubs were denied Scottish league football. There was no pyramid system.
“The Scottish Cup was the one chance, where once in a blue moon the north players would get the chance to pit themselves against the south players.
“In 1994 that changed with us getting into the Scottish league.
“Our Scottish Cup history has been incredible.
“I always think it’s probably a continuation of Caley. Having played for both former clubs, Thistle, who were my club, didn’t really have a great history in the Scottish Cup.
“They had one or two good runs, and played Celtic at Parkhead in 1985.
“But Caley were notorious. I remember talking to Billy Urquhart about this once, and saying if Caley were drawn in the Scottish Cup at home against any of the bottom two league clubs, they would expect to win.
“Such was their history in the Scottish Cup. It’s great Caley Thistle have continued that.”
Caley Thistle can draw belief from night they went ballistic
Christie believes the victory over Celtic, which signalled the end of John Barnes’ stint in charge at Parkhead, was a landmark moment which Inverness’ class of 2023 can draw belief from when the sides meet in the Scottish Cup final this weekend.
He added: “We were involved in a promotion with the tourist board at the time of that game.
“I remember speaking to someone from the Scottish tourist board who said Inverness Caledonian Thistle had done more in 90 minutes than the north tourist board had done in five years.
“We got so much national news coverage.
“The main thing was that everybody started believing what we could achieve. We weren’t a Premier League club at the time, we were in the First Division.
“I think people then thought we could go places with this football club. It was not just in the cup, but the league as we proved by spending so many years in the Premier League.
“I really felt then that if we could go to Parkhead and win, we could win anywhere in Scotland.”
Christie junior has shown Highland youngsters the path to success
Although son Ryan is currently plying his trade in the English Premier League with Bournemouth, Christie has a vested interest in the final.
Through his youth coaching role, Christie oversaw the development of the likes of Cameron Harper, Daniel MacKay, Roddy MacGregor and Lewis Hyde ahead of their first team breakthrough.
Christie is thrilled the club has earned another crack at a Hampden Park showpiece just eight years after their most significant triumph.
The 57-year-old said: “The Scottish Cup has been great. It brings an interest to the club that’s hard to do year in year out.
“It has always been an area that captures the imagination of the local fanbase, which at times we have found hard to do with league football. Cup football brings something different to the table.
“The history has been great, and it was topped off in 2015.
“If somebody had said that within eight years we would be back at the cup final at Hampden, you would have burst out laughing.
“A lot of people, myself included, probably thought it was a once in a lifetime occasion.”
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