The rise and fall of Inverness Caledonian Thistle

The club’s “fairy tale” season came in 2014-15.

Under John Hughes ICT finished third in the Premier League and secured Europa League qualification – and beat Falkirk 2-1 to win the Scottish Cup for the first time – with 10 men after having a player sent off in the second half.

The day after the final at Hampden in Glasgow, the team took the trophy on a tour of Inverness in an open topped bus.

The club’s strong community spirit was clearly on show that day.

Fans who had gathered at the stadium to see the bus start its journey were invited to wait inside the ground, and even got the chance to meet some of the cup-winning heroes.

Hundreds of people lined parts of the bus’s route from the stadium to the Northern Meeting Park where 5,000 fans celebrated with the team.

In its first 25 years, ICT also won three league championship trophies and two Challenge Cups.

If 2014-15 was the fairy tale, more recent seasons could be called a nightmare.

Inverness were relegated to the Championship on the last day of the 2016-17 season, a win over Motherwell not being enough to save it.

ICT under manager Billy Dodds did reach the Scottish Cup final in 2023, but lost 3-1 to Celtic.

But last season, a run of poor league results and defeat in a play-off against Hamilton saw ICT drop to League 1.

Angry fans took to the pitch in protest.