Caley Thistle manager Terry Butcher only has to listen to determined dressing-room talk of cup finals and European qualification to gauge how far his club has come.
The Englishman knows the drive and ambition evident among his squad is night and day compared to the beaten and bedraggled group he inherited in January 2009.
Back then, Butcher tried – and only narrowly failed – to stem an inexorable slide towards relegation.
More than four years on and it seems a natural progression for Caley Thistle to be talking of breaking new ground both at home and abroad.
The Inverness manager also views tonight’s League Cup quarter-final as another step towards banishing the painful memory of last season’s penalty-kick defeat to Hearts in the semi-finals.
There is recognition a breakthrough achievement such as a Hampden Park appearance will require monumental effort.
Butcher said: “These players have always talked in terms of trying to get into European competition and into a cup final. That is just night and day compared to when we first came back up in the top league in 2010. It shows there has been such a change in the club since then – a very impressive change.
“To be talking about finals and European competition, we never thought that would be the case two years ago, let alone three or four.
“It is a natural thing now for us to aim to achieve it, but there is a lot of work to be done before we get to that stage.
“People have already said this is the biggest game of the season, but they’re all big games. It’s another game for us in a cup competition where we’ve had reasonably good success.”
Butcher still views last season’s penalty-kicks exit to Hearts at Easter Road as a missed opportunity.
He said: “We got to the semi-final of the League Cup last year and were beaten on penalties after 120 minutes. We should have won the game and it still hurts. That will never go away.
“It was the first time the club had got to the semi-final of this competition. We have a good opportunity of getting to the semi-final again. But every team in the last eight will now feel they have a really good chance of winning it, let alone getting to the semis. Celtic’s absence and with Rangers not being there, has opened it up, but there are some really good sides left.”
David Raven, pictured, will miss tonight’s and Saturday’s matches after sustaining a groin injury in training before the ill-fated Highland derby. Other than Raven and long-term injury victim James Vincent, the Inverness manager has a clean bill of health.