Charlie Christie wished he could have rolled the clock back a decade as Caley Thistle prepared for their debut in the Scottish Premier League on August 7, 2004.
The Inverness legend, a classy midfielder, played 312 times for the club, from their days as newcomers in the Scottish leagues in 1994 right through to winning the First Division title 10 years later.
However, age meant there was to be no SPL bow for Christie when ICT kicked off in the top-flight with a 3-0 loss at Livingston 20 years ago under boss John Robertson.
Christie, who went on to manage the Caley Jags in the SPL in 2006-2007, had given everything for the cause, but an injury pushed him towards his decision to focus on coaching before the historic season began.
He said: “Robbo was struggling for bodies, so I got back into the team, and I scored against Falkirk, and I recall playing against St Johnstone in Perth and I started the game quite well and broke my foot in a challenge.
“It took me a few months to recover from that. I turned 38 in March of that year, and I decided to retire.
“I’d have loved to have played right through the leagues, like Ross Tokely did.
“Part of me said: ‘Could I have gone on even for another six months?’
“But I was also getting involved in coaching at youth level, which I was loving.
“We had a really good group of young players, which my son Ryan (Scotland and Bournemouth midfielder), was very much part of. I am glad I went down that line.
“I always say, though, I was 28 when Caley Thistle went into the Scottish leagues – I wish I could have turned my age back to 18 at that stage and I could have then played in the SPL.
“That said, I enjoyed those first 10 seasons playing for Caley Thistle. It was fabulous. Playing every year until we got promoted to the SPL was a great memory.”
Promotion proved merger was right
Due to the Caledonian Stadium not being compliant with the required number of seats, Inverness struck a deal with Aberdeen to play their home league games at Pittodrie to gain entry in the SPL in 2004.
A reduced seating capacity requirement of 6,000 was soon agreed and building giants Tulloch, run by club ex-chairman David Sutherland, installed North and South Stands at the Caledonian Stadium to meet the criteria.
Such was the rapid work carried out over a short winter period, ICT were able to host SPL football in Inverness by late January 2005.
Christie explained having to play home matches in the Granite City only unified Caley Thistle as they sought to find their feet at the highest level.
He said: “We always had that one-for-all, all-for-one mentality at the club, but playing at Pittodrie in the SPL brought us even closer together.
“It was us, the underdogs again, fighting against the odds.
Warm welcome for ICT in Aberdeen
“Aberdeen, as a football club, were welcoming, which helped. They were a credit to themselves.
“It was great to finish eighth in our first season, given half our home games were in Aberdeen. We never really worried about relegation.
“It was the icing on the cake. We felt we really were in the big time as a club just 10 years after coming into the leagues and now regularly playing the likes of Celtic and Rangers.
“It rubber-stamped for me the decision was right in 1994 to enter the leagues as Caley Thistle. As we know, we’d never have done this in our Highland League days.
“We then spent a good number of years in the top-flight and it was phenomenal. We were going toe-to-toe with top teams that we’d meet occasionally in cups if we were lucky.”
Club pursued right to play in the SPL
After winning the First Division thanks to a nerve-shredding 3-1 win over St Johnstone in May 2004, there was a period of limbo as opposition to Caley Thistle promotion left the club battling to go up, aided by those talks with Aberdeen FC and league chiefs.
Christie praised those involved for standing firm, leading to their entry being given the green light.
He added: “We were a bit in limbo after winning the First Division – would we go up?
“There were a lot of discussions and decisions going on behind closed doors.
“It was important the club stayed with it. There were even some people within the area unsure whether we were ready to go into the top-flight.
“Fair play, the club said we have earned this opportunity, we deserve to go up.
“They made a huge commitment to play at Aberdeen, which was going to be expensive, but we made the effort to do it.
“Thankfully, the Scottish League made the right decision (to drop the all-seater capacity from 10,000 to 6,000) – other clubs had their say on it, but the right decision was made.
“The good thing was, when we came back to Inverness, we proved we could be an SPL team. We were in the top division for a good number of years, so the decision was vindicated.”
Conversation