TERRY Butcher has challenged Caley Thistle’s current crop of players to create their own piece of history tomorrow by putting holders Celtic out of this year’s Scottish Cup.
As a First Division club, Inverness caused one of the competitions biggest upsets when they defeated the Hoops 3-1 at Parkead — a result that spawned the iconic headline ‘Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious’.
Three years later and still with a division separating them, Caley Thistle once more shocked a Celtic side, who had current manager Neil Lennon in their starting line-up, winning 1-0 in the Highland Capital.
The two teams face off once more in the Scottish Cup tomorrow, this time in the fifth round, and for manager Butcher it is a match that represents an opportunity for the Caley Thistle’s first-team squad to write themselves into club folklore with Ross Tokely the only survivor of the past two cup triumphs at Celtic’s expense.
"The Scottish Cup is very nostalgic, especially for Caley Thistle, as people still talk about that famous headline and the previous cup successes over Celtic," said Butcher.
"However, what I’ve been stressing to the players this week is that we can make history.
"We can’t affect what has happened in the past, but for pretty much all the squad it was before their time here and certainly before my time as a manager.
"We have managed to beat both Rangers and Celtic in the SPL since I’ve taken charge, but we’ve not done it in the cup, so that would be a first for me on Saturday, as well as for a few players here.
"There are still a lot of players here from that league performance last year when we beat Celtic 3-2 in the league is a game we can look back on with great fondness and on the night everyone played to their potential, possibly even above that, but you have to do that to beat Celtic or Rangers.
"However, it’s a chance to be heroes. Legends are made in games like these and it’s up to us to make our own history on Saturday."
Butcher is expected to pick from the same squad that drew 0-0 at home with St Mirren last weekend with Gregory Tade now full recovered after hurting his knee in that match.
Steve Williams remains sidelined with a knee problem, but should return to training next week. However, Aaron Doran hurt his hamstring in Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen in a bounce match and is looking at between four and six weeks out.
There was some good news from that game with Owain Tudur Jones playing just over an hour having been out for six months following knee surgery.
For more Caley Thistle news, including an interview with defender Josh Meekings, see today's Inverness Courier
