Inverness Caley Thistle opening goalscorer Barry Wilson recounts “surreal” moment team were clapped back to team bus by Celtic fans after going ballistic against Glasgow giants in Scottish Cup
There will not be many opposition teams who have been applauded back to the team bus by home Celtic fans, but 25 years ago Inverness Caledonian Thistle were given exactly that honour.
Tomorrow marks a quarter of a century since Caley Thistle “went ballistic”, defeating the Glasgow giants on their own pitch 3-1 in the Scottish Cup, just five and-a-half years after ICT were formed.
It is easy to say with hindsight that it was a tie rife with upset potential.
The Caley Jags were in their first campaign in Scotland’s second tier, and well on their way to becoming a fully full time outfit.
Celtic, meanwhile, were deep into the ill-fated managerial tenure of John Barnes, whose side were 10 points behind rivals Rangers in the SPL title race. Indeed, defeat to Inverness would be the final straw before Barnes was sacked.
A delay to the cup tie would have given ICT even more reason for hope. Postponed because of guttering hanging off of Celtic Park that posed a danger, the clash would instead take place after Celtic had blown a 2-0 lead against Hearts in the league to lose 3-2.
When Caley Thistle finally did get to kick off at Parkhead, it did not take them long to strike the first blow either, with Barry Wilson getting across Oliver Tebily – playing his first game since a traumatic experience with his country at the African Cup of Nations – to head Inverness into the lead in the 16th minute.
“Going into the actual match, we were probably a little bit more confident of causing an upset than Celtic were about getting the job done,” Wilson recalled.
“I can’t remember how everyone felt, but Pele (manager Steve Paterson) just sent us out there to play our normal stuff. As the game panned out, we grew with that belief.
“I was playing with a lot of confidence then. Pele had moved me up front from wide, and I think I’d scored something like 10 goals in the last 10 games.
“I scored the Millennium goals, and I just kept going, so I was going in with a lot of confidence – and I knew I could be dangerous.
“It was a header, which was quite rare even though I was getting better in the air. We took a quick free kick, and Paul had a yard of space on the left hand side.
“It was like Celtic were saying ‘they can’t hurt us from there’, but Paul has a great delivery and I just gambled and got a lovely little glance on it to go in.
“It was absolute mayhem for about a minute until they equalised.”
Although Wilson’s goal was a special moment, Caley Thistle were quickly brought back down to earth when Mark Burchill levelled inside a minute.
Despite fears that they had poked the beast, though, ICT would regain the lead when Bobby Mann’s header was deflected into his own goal by Lubo Moravcik.
A chaotic home dressing room at half time saw Celtic shaken by Mark Viduka’s refusal to play, and what goalkeeper Jonathan Gould has since branded a lack of leadership from Barnes.
It could not have been a more different tone for Inverness, who were being pulled down from the ceiling by Paterson and encouraged to keep attacking.
The Celtic supporters’ furious response after the final whistle was indicative of where they felt the club was at that point, but they still showed their respect to their conquerors – somewhat to the surprise of Wilson, who was substituted in the closing stages.
“When I sat down on the bench, I don’t think I even watched the game, I think I just watched the clock,” he admitted.
“It was just bedlam, and it was so nice to see. The players celebrated, and the Celtic fans applauded us once their boos had calmed down. It was phenomenal.
“Reporters at the time I think asked whether we realised how big it was, and to be honest we probably didn’t. The ramifications it had with Barnes and Dalglish going – it probably turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to Celtic with Martin O’Neill coming in.
“When we left the stadium there were hundreds of Celtic fans outside protesting, but they applauded us on to the bus.
“It was pretty surreal. In one of the pictures, I’ve got a Celtic scarf around my neck that someone threw on to me – but it might have been thrown away in disgust!
“It was just a great night, and one that you probably don’t get tired of talking about.”
The celebrations continued for days back in the Highlands, which eventually took their toll as Inverness lost their next game to league leaders St Mirren that weekend.
However, in hindsight nobody will care about that immediate setback in the aftermath of a result that is still seen as putting Highland football on the national map.
There have been more cup shocks since – and more wins for Caley Thistle over Celtic since. On a personal note, Wilson even puts the final day of the season ICT earned promotion to the SPL above the triumph over Celtic.
At the time, though, it was the biggest moment in the careers of every single Inverness player, and perhaps none more so than man of the match Charlie Christie who had been on the books at Parkhead more than a decade earlier.
“We were winding Charlie up when he got his man of the match award,” Wilson added.
“He was obviously an ex-Celtic player, but I thought Jim Calder was unbelievable that night and for me should have got man of the match.
“When Charlie came back on to the bus with his man of the match award, we were asking him who he was presenting it to. That was tongue-in-cheek, Charlie was very good that night – as were every one of us.
“We were playing at the absolute top of all of our games.”
