Inverness took high road at Celtic ten years ago but now on firmer ground

A Highland club was born, in the eyes of the wider public at least. Tonight in an Inverness hotel, the players who took part in that win in Glasgow – exactly ten years ago on Monday – will be lauded once again by supporters.

"That Celtic game did us a power of good," explained David Sutherland, then the Caley Thistle chairman and, while no longer a board member, still the majority shareholder of the club. "It exposed the club to a wider audience in Britain and Europe, gave us a profile. And it gave me the belief at that time that we could be an SPL team."

Indeed they were, although relegation from Scotland's top flight last May has come at a typically heavy cost for Inverness. They were hardly free-spenders in the SPL but, as any other club will discover and by Sutherland's blunt admission, decline in supporter numbers and television revenue when in the First Division has a major impact for any club.

The local businessman, who has invested 5million of his own money into the football club without any return, disputes local rumour that Caley Thistle are somehow in fiscal difficulty. Sutherland, in fact, gives as positive and bullish a critique of his club as could be expected.

It would seem reasonable to correlate what will happen in upcoming seasons to a decade ago, when wages in Inverness were considerably less than today. Taking into account the gates at the Caledonian Stadium – a mere 1,450 turned up for the Scottish Cup fourth round victory over Motherwell – it is entirely sensible that some form of business realignment will take place imminently.

"When we played Celtic in 2000, we were on the financial precipice," Sutherland recalled. "We were getting by in those days with cup runs before the finance of the club was reorganised. When I left the board, the club had cash in the bank and that is still the case; they still have no debt.

"But we are no different to any other SFL club. If I was still on the board of the SPL, I would be telling them a raincheck is needed. People talk about people in the SPL being turkeys who will not vote for Christmas; if they are not careful, there will be no Christmas soon."

Sutherland cites the obvious discontent of the Rangers manager Walter Smith as evidence that the Scottish game has deep-rooted trouble. "If Walter has the concerns for Rangers, which he obviously has, what does that mean for the rest? I see how cheesed off he is and I can understand why."

Inverness, needless to say, will continue to rely on the generosity of their major shareholder if promotion back to the SPL is not forthcoming in the summer. "I will always help the club out not if, but when, that is needed," he said. "But we have a pretty focused and wealthy board in place at Caley Thistle now."

The blunt truth is that it would take a significant turnaround for Terry Butcher to guide Inverness back to the top flight this season. Thereafter, it cannot be ignored that all but four of the club's first-team players are out of contract. The manager and his assistant, Maurice Malpas, would similarly become free agents. If they are to stay on, it will surely not be on the contract terms signed 13 months ago, when Caley Thistle were in the SPL. Nonetheless, if moderate wages, linked to the number of paying customers, were good enough to secure a First Division title in 2004, there is decent cause to believe it could be done again on a similar budget. The SFL, as Sutherland acknowledges, can count only Dundee as even remotely free-spending.

"We will get back there (to the SPL], I have no doubt about that," Sutherland added. "There are enough players around the British market for us to continue to be competitive within a budget. And do not forget this season we have still to play Dundee twice and (second top] Ross County twice. It was only one goal, I would argue one incident, that sent us down last season but that is football."

The Caley Thistle Supporters' Trust paid for overnight accommodation for the players in Glasgow ahead of today's visit to Rugby Park. Fittingly, cup business is the order of the day in Kilmarnock before a trip down memory lane. They may have taken a step backwards for now but Caley Thistle's name was established on account of cup exploits. More of the same this season would be welcomed even if, thanks to off-field prudence, it would not be pivotal.