Inverness Caley Thistle club secretary Fiona McWilliams says lifting the Scottish Cup would be the perfect anniversary present as she closes in on 20 years in the Highland capital
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It is not often a club secretary is a key performer in a run to a national cup final – but Fiona McWilliams has been exactly that for Inverness Caledonian Thistle this season.
She was hailed by head coach Billy Dodds after their defeat to Queen's Park early in the competition for noticing that the Spiders had fielded an ineligible player, which resulted in the result being overturned and Inverness progressing.
With the game taking place on the final day of the January transfer window, McWilliams says she noticed the issue fairly quickly after the teamsheets were released, but insists she does not look at it as a particularly impactful moment.
"I had an inkling through the game," she recalled.
"The reason it stuck in my head was because the transfer window was open, and I knew that if we had signed somebody they wouldn't have been able to play in the rearranged tie.
"It was a genuine mistake, they weren't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, and I'm sure the Scottish FA would have noticed the next day as well.
"Part of my job is to know every single rule, whether that be the cup or the league, so that I don't make the same mistake. It's easy to make mistakes, so you've just got to stay on top of these things.
"You've obviously still got to play the game, and anything could have happened. That was then taken outwith our hands, and the Scottish FA dealt with that side of things.
"It's my job to check these sorts of things, so it was nice that Billy and a couple of the players said nice things but I was just doing my job.
"You think about what the boys did afterwards – beating a Livingston side that was going so well in the Premiership at that time in one of our best performances of the season, and then beating Kilmarnock as well – they have done much more than me to get to the final."
Variation is the name of the game for McWilliams in more ways than one.
As club secretary, no two days look the same – and even with a little over 24 hours to go before kick off in the Scottish Cup final she is as busy as ever.
Hotels and food arrangements need to be made, and then tomorrow morning it is her responsibility to get the teamlines submitted and generally ease any worries players or coaches may have on the day.
In the bigger picture, though, club secretary is just the latest in a long line of different roles McWilliams has taken up at the club.
She has previously ran the club's website, as well as having a multitude of roles in Caley Thistle's youth and community coaching set-up.
That means she has worked with a handful of the club's homegrown stars who could feature against Celtic this weekend, and she is extremely proud of where those players – Cammy Mackay, Cammy Harper, Lewis Hyde, Roddy MacGregor and Daniel MacKay – have come from.
"In September it will be 20 years I've been at the club," McWilliams added.
"It would be a lovely 20th anniversary present to win the Scottish Cup.
"When Jimmy Faulkner retired a few years ago, I took over as club secretary, but I've had a wide variety of roles – I did the website for a bit, I did the community stuff, I was youth administrator.
"It's our second cup final in eight years, and at the last one in 2015 I was a youth coach. We have four boys who will probably be in the squad tomorrow who were at that final as youth players, so that's a massive credit to the academy system as well.
"They were probably playing on Charleston pitches at that stage, and you wouldn't have thought they would be playing in a Scottish Cup final eight years later.
"I've coached all of these homegrown guys at some point over the years, and they have all been with us since they were nine or 10 years of age.
"They have done so well, and shown that there is a pathway for boys in the academy.
"It makes me really proud to see how far they've come. The five of them that are in the squad are all such hard-working boys – they have all put in so much time and dedication.
"I'm proud, and the club is proud to see them do that, but it's all down to them.
"When the squad is lining up tomorrow and you think back to them playing as wee nine and 10-year-olds locally, it's a massive achievement."
