Ground 26: Tulloch Caledonian Stadium

The Main Stand at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium

Game: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 v 3 Celtic

Date: Saturday 9^th February

Competition: Scottish Premier League

Admission: £25

Programme: £3

After the issue of getting the tickets sorted, I was really looking forward to the clash between the teams placed 1^st and 2^nd in the SPL. I was also grateful that this game was going to be warmer than my last visit to the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. That game was on Boxing Day 2009, where Caley Thistle entertained Dundee in another top of the table clash (this time in the SFL1) which finished 1-1. An unmemorable game, but the temperatures in which it took place, -8°C was enough to leave an imprint on my mind.

No such fears on this day as the only weather conditions to be concerned with was the overcast grey skies that looked like fog.

The Tulloch Caledonian Stadium sits right next to the Kessock Bridge on the Moray Firth and has been home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle since 1996. The club itself only formed in 1994 when Inverness Thistle and Caledonian merged to create the Caledonian Thistle FC when applying for Scottish Football League membership. Both clubs had been playing in the Highland League, where city rivals, Clachnacuddin still play. A condition of part public funding for the new Caledonian Stadium was for the club to include Inverness in the club name, hence the arrival at Inverness Caledonian Thistle or the Caley Jags for short.

We were all here for a top of the table clash, with ICT having their best ever season against Celtic, firm favourites for the SPL title. Celtic were a few days away from their Champions League match against Juventus and saw them ring the changes, with Neil Lennon changing 9 of the 11 players in the starting line-up.

We arrived with fifteen minutes to spare, which gave me the opportunity to grab a programme. ICT have an innovative idea: they have a monthly magazine (which is excellent, image driven and fan focused, one of the best I’ve seen this season) with an insert for individual games. The magazine costs £3 and includes the insert and subsequent inserts are 50p each. This is something I’ve seen in America for basketball and baseball and I think it works very well.

Something that doesn’t work very well is 12pm kick-offs. I’ve never been a fan of them, and so it proved on this occasion. An early kick-off combined with traffic works on the Kessock Bridge meant that many fans hadn’t made it into the ground by the first whistle. It also had an impact on the atmosphere which was a little subdued as we kicked off.

The atmosphere picked up quickly when ICT raced to a 1-0 lead with Nick Ross firing a shot from just inside the box that trundled into the net. There was a touch of fortune to the goal and the highly-rated Fraser Forster could have done better in his first game back from injury. In all honesty, I wasn’t particularly impressed by Forster, who looked sluggish and was not the commanding presence we in the SPL have been accustomed to.

“Champions League, you’re having a laugh” was the song ringing out from the ICT stands. Alongside “Juve! Juve!” it proved that the ICT fans were having a good time. Their mirth was short-lived as good work from Tom Rogic, the Australian international who was making his debut, found space in the box passed to Kris Commons who blasted the ball past Ryan Esson in the ICT goal. As you can see from the footage, he struck it fantastically well.

Celtic turned on the pressure with both Paddy McCourt and Dylan McGeouch both looking impressive, but neither side did enough to earn another goal in the first half. The only observation from the half that I had was that Craig Thomson continued in his quest to endear himself to nobody in Scottish football with a pernickety performance. If I were an ICT fan I’d be aggrieved that none of the 50/50 decisions seemed to go their way.

Celtic took the lead early in the second half with a header from Rami Gershon in the 48^th minute. ICT were guilty of poor defending as Gershon leaped above the centre halves to head past Esson, who like his counterpart in the Celtic goal looked underwhelming.

It was then the momentum swung to ICT who had a number of chances to equalise. They piled pressure on the makeshift Celtic defence, but almost inevitably broke away in the 82^nd minute to put the game beyond doubt. It was unfair as ICT deserved a goal.

Slightly before the third goal, an interesting event occurred in the North Stand were we were sitting. Goal scorer Nick Ross was taken off and replaced by Philip Roberts, whose arrival was greeted mainly with cheers but a minority of boos. What was interesting that it was fellow fans that took the booers to task. It demonstrates that self-policing sometimes works in football!

What I found most interesting in the following days was how the match was reported: that the rotation of the Celtic squad was a masterstroke and how it demonstrated the strength of depth in Neil Lennon’s team. Undoubtedly these players did well, but what if ICT had got that equaliser they deserved in the second half? It’s very interesting to see how that narrative developed in hindsight after the game. There’s no doubting Celtic’s quality and I suppose this game is demonstrative of the ‘winning mentality’ that players and pundits are always talking about.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle may not be in a rich vein of form at the moment, but I was delighted to see this game and personally, I’m hopeful that Inverness go from strength to strength. It’s imperative for this new dawn in Scottish football that we have different power bases, and Inverness certainly have the potential to be one of Scotland’s leading clubs. More power to them.