Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.
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Template:Football club infobox 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 Craig Brewster, who is also a player for the club.
They play in blue, red and white strips, and are nicknamed Caley Thistle. Their home ground, Caledonian Stadium, is situated beside the Moray Firth, in the shadow of the Kessock Bridge.
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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 1993-1994. 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 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 and, as a result, pipped Clyde to the championship. 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. Caley Thistle returned to playing in Inverness, playing and defeating Dunfermline in their first SPL game in their own ground on 29 January 2005.
The club are also famous for their Scottish Cup victories over Celtic in 2000 and 2003: winning 3-1 and 1-0 respectively. Inverness have also knocked-out other SPL teams including as Motherwell, and Hearts 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
- Sergei Baltacha 1994-1995
- Steve Paterson 1995-2002
- John Robertson 2002-2004
- Craig Brewster 2004-Present
Famous Players
- Bobby Mann
- Juanjo Garricondo
- Barry Wilson
- Stuart McCaffrey
- Ross Tokely
- Craig Brewster
Honours
- Scottish First Division(1): 2003/04
- Scottish Third Division(1): 1996/97
| Football | Scottish Football Association | Scottish Football League | Scottish Premier League |
| Aberdeen | Celtic | Dundee United | Dunfermline Athletic | Falkirk | Heart of Midlothian | Hibernian | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Kilmarnock | Livingston | Motherwell | Rangers |