Inverness CT

Before 1994, there were six football clubs in Inverness competing in the Highland League: Clachnacuddin, Caledonian, Inverness Celtic, Inverness Citadel, Inverness Thistle and Inverness Union. Inverness Union, who competed in the Highland League in the late 19th Century, merged with Inverness Thistle in either 1895 or 1899. Inverness Celtic folded in 1898, and Citadel folded in 1937.

The clubs had won a number of local titles, and Inverness Thistle narrowly missed out on being elected into the Scottish League in 1973. In 1993 the league agreed to expand by an extra two teams, and improved road links to Inverness now meant that competing in national competitions was more possible.

Caledonian Thistle F.C. was formed in August 1994 from the merger of Caledonian and Inverness Thistle (both formed in 1885), with an objective of taking up one of the two available places in the Scottish League. The merger was opposed by some supporters of both clubs, with Caledonian fans staging a number of protests, but the merger went through and the new club was selected to the Scottish Third Division along with fellow Highland team, Ross County.

Caledonian Thistle started 1994–95 with a game against Arbroath on 13 August 1994, which ended in a 5–2 win at Telford Street Park, the former home ground of Caledonian. Alan Hercher scored Caledonian Thistle's first league goal, and went on to complete a hat-trick. The club eventually finished sixth in the Third Division, and followed this up with a third-place finish in 1995–96. Before the start of the 1996–97 season the club changed its name to Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club. Part of the application to join the Scottish League was a commitment to move to a new stadium and, a year later than originally planned, Caley moved to the newly built Caledonian Park in November 1996. With a new name and new stadium, the club finished 1996–97 as Third Division champions, earning promotion to the Second Division. The club spent two seasons in the Second Division. After a closely fought campaign, they finished runners-up to Livingston in 1998–99, securing promotion to the First Division.

The club first came to national prominence after their Scottish Cup victories over Celtic in 2000 and 2003: winning 3–1 at Celtic Park, resulting in the headline "Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious" in The Sun which is now framed in the foyer of Caledonian Stadium, and 1–0. Inverness also knocked other SPL teams out of cup competitions, including Motherwell and Hearts. Over the first ten years of their existence the club had been responsible for a total of 12 'shocks' and as a result had gained themselves a reputation as being "giant killers". On 25 February 2007, Inverness's run of cup victories over Celtic came to an end following two goals in the last two minutes of their fifth round tie at Caledonian Stadium. Having led 1–0 for the majority of the game thanks to a Graham Bayne goal, Steven Pressley equalised before Kenny Miller netted the winner in stoppage time. However, another victory against Celtic occurred on 16 December 2007, this time in the league, when the team came from being 2–0 down to win 3–2, with goals scored by John Rankin, David Proctor and Don Cowie.

Season 2003–2004 could be regarded as the club's most successful up to that point. In November 2003, they defeated Airdrie United 2–0 with goals from Steve Hislop and David Bingham to win the Scottish Challenge Cup, and also reached the Scottish Cup semi-final, losing a replay 3–2 to Dunfermline Athletic after a 1–1 draw at Hampden Park. However, the greatest achievement was on the final day of the season, when Inverness defeated St Johnstone 3–1, with goals from Paul Ritchie, David Bingham and Barry Wilson and, as a result, pipped Clyde to the First Division title. This made the club eligible for promotion to the Scottish Premier League (SPL). However, SPL rules at that time stated that all member clubs must have a stadium with a minimum capacity of 10,000 seats. Caledonian Stadium did not meet this criterion, leaving the club's Board with a dilemma: either to remain in the First Division (like Falkirk the previous season) or to groundshare with Aberdeen, over 100 miles (160 km) away. After consulting with supporters, the Board decided the 'sacrifice' of one season in Aberdeen would be an acceptable compromise to ensure Premier League participation for the club.

In late January 2001, following Inverness' Scottish Cup match against Ayr United, in which Caley Thistle overturned a 0–3 deficit to win 4–3, fans were asked to fill in a voting card on whether the club should change their name to reflect Inverness's recently granted city status. However, the name change was overwhelmingly rejected by the fans in attendance by 412 to 1,067, mostly on the grounds of the amount of success they had under the Inverness Caledonian Thistle name, namely it being just shy of a year since they had beaten Celtic in the Scottish Cup. The name Inverness City was registered by the club, seemingly in case of a change of heart within the voters, however it was soon dropped when Inverness CT won the Scottish First Division in 2004, and were promoted to the Scottish Premier League. With the name now free to use, in 2006 now defunct local amateur side Inverness City were born, and competed in the lower echelons of the Scottish Football Tier System, playing in the North Caledonian Football League and later the North Junior Superleague, before folding in 2019 due to lack of a home ground.

A change in SPL rules during the 2004–05 season reduced the stadium seating requirement to 6,000 seats for SPL membership. The Caledonian Stadium was rendered a valid SPL venue after a rapid ground expansion, with two new stands added. The stadium was renamed as the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in honour of the local building firm that completed the work in only 47 working days. The chairman of Tulloch, David Sutherland, was also chairman of the club at the time and remains a major shareholder. The club returned to playing in Inverness, defeating Dunfermline 2–0 in their first SPL game in their own ground on 29 January 2005, thanks to goals from Barry Wilson and then player-manager Craig Brewster.

A significant event in the club's history was the signing of Romanian international Marius Niculae. Niculae was involved in the club's 2007–08 campaign and played at UEFA Euro 2008, before leaving for Dinamo București. He later became involved in a dispute with the club over a share of the transfer fee that was not paid to him when he left. As a result, Inverness were ordered by FIFA to pay £133,000 to the player. The club appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and in November 2011, the club won their appeal.

During season 2008–09 season, the team incurred a number of bad results and struggled near the bottom of the SPL. Eventually, manager Craig Brewster was sacked after a run of seven consecutive defeats, ending with a 1–0 loss to Hamilton Academical. This was the first time the club had sacked a manager, and the fans had previously voiced concern about Brewster's ability. Brewster was replaced by former England international Terry Butcher, who was unable to prevent the club's relegation, despite an initial improvement in results. Inverness Caledonian Thistle's tenure in the SPL eventually ended in May 2009 after suffering a 1–0 home defeat to Falkirk. Their final total of 37 points is the (equal) highest ever for a team finishing bottom of the top-tier in Scottish football.

After a slow start to their first season back in the First Division, which looked set to be won at a canter by runaway leaders Dundee who were 15 points ahead in January, Inverness put together a run of form which saw them go on a 21-match unbeaten run. On 21 April 2010, Inverness secured promotion back to the SPL with two games to spare after Dundee lost to Raith Rovers. Inverness became the first team in ten years to secure an immediate return to the SPL. The team went on to celebrate their promotion with a 7–0 win at Ayr United, their biggest ever away win. On the final day of the season, Inverness beat Dundee 1–0, winning the league by 12 points.

Having won the 2009–10 First Division title in their first year back in the division since 2003–04, Inverness competed in the top tier of Scottish football from 2010 to 2017. In 2013–14, the club reached their first major final – the Scottish League Cup – losing on penalties to Aberdeen. They then beat Falkirk in the final of the Scottish Cup in 2015. That same season, Inverness secured entry to European competition for the first time, with a best-ever third-place finish in the Premiership.

As part of the push for promotion in the 2009–10 season, Inverness went on an unbeaten away run in the league that continued through the entire 2010 calendar year, culminating in a 1–1 draw against Hearts at Tynecastle on 18 December. This extraordinary sequence ended in defeat at St Johnstone on 2 January 2011 when the Perth side won by a single goal. At the split, Inverness narrowly missed out on a top six spot, eventually finishing in a club record-equalling 7th place. However, two years later, they would finish even higher.

During the 2012–13 season, a 3–0 win over Hibernian on 8 December 2012 saw them rise to second place in the SPL (behind Celtic), their then, highest ever league position.

Continued good form over the course of the season consolidated the club's position in the top-half of the table. Victory over Highland derby rivals Ross County on 16 March elevated Inverness Caledonian Thistle onto an almost unassailable points-total in their quest for a maiden 'top-6' finish. This achievement was confirmed the following day as the club benefited from a favourable result in the Sunday SPL fixture. This guarantee of a 'top-6' place ensured that the 2012–13 Scottish Premier League season would see Inverness Caledonian Thistle's record, their then, highest ever finishing league position.

Ultimately, Inverness Caledonian Thistle finished in 4th place, narrowly missing Europa League qualification on the final day of the season, succumbing to a 1–0 defeat from local rivals Ross County.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle began the inaugural season (2013–14 Scottish Premiership) of the revamped SPFL Scottish Premiership with a 3–0 win over St Mirren. This result saw the club take pole-position in the league table. They remained top of the league until the 9th game of the season when they dropped to 2nd place following a loss at St Johnstone.

On 11 November 2013, Hibernian reached a compensation deal with Inverness for Terry Butcher to move to the club, alongside assistant manager Maurice Malpas.

After an extensive recruitment process, on 4 December 2013, John Hughes was unveiled as the new manager of the club. In January 2014, Russell Latapy was appointed as Hughes' assistant manager.

In February 2014, Inverness defeated Hearts in the Scottish League Cup semi-final. Inverness struck first with Greg Tansey firing the Highland side into the lead. Jamie Hamill then scored 2 goals in 2 minutes and gave Hearts hope of reaching their second League Cup Final in two years. Just when Inverness were on the brink of defeat, Nick Ross equalised in the 94th minute and sent the game to extra time. After no goals being scored in extra time, Inverness clinched the win on penalties.

On 25 February, Inverness beat Ross County in Dingwall in the Highland Derby. The 3–0 win was the first time they had won a Highland Derby in Dingwall in the League since March 2003. They also won the next derby 2–1 on 4 April. The game was also played in Dingwall.

On 16 March, Inverness and Aberdeen faced each other in the 2014 Scottish League Cup Final at Celtic Park in Glasgow. After tense 120 minutes the two teams lined up for a penalty shoot-out. Inverness missed their first 2 penalties with Billy Mckay's penalty saved and Greg Tansey firing over the bar. Despite Nick Ross and Aaron Doran scoring their penalties Aberdeen won 4–2.

Inverness finished the season with a 2–0 win over St Johnstone thanks to second half goals from Ryan Christie and Greg Tansey.

Between May and September 2014, Inverness kept a series of consecutive clean sheets, enabling them to achieve a club record of 616 minutes without conceding a goal.

Further success followed that season, with a 1–0 victory away to Dundee, scored by Eddie Ofere, confirming a record third-place league finish for the club. This also guaranteed Inverness qualifying for European football for the first time – competing in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle capped an extraordinary 2014–15 season by winning the Scottish Cup Final against Falkirk at Hampden Park. This result came after they had defeated Celtic in a tense semi-final.
As of 2025, the Scottish Cup win is the club's only major national trophy. It entitled Inverness Caledonian Thistle to enter the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League in the Second qualifying round. The club were drawn against Romanian outfit FC Astra Giurgiu. An estimated 500 fans followed the team to Romania, watching the team grind out a 0–0 draw. However this was not enough to set up a tie against West Ham United in the next round, as the Romanians had narrowly beaten the Highlanders 1–0 in the first leg in Inverness.

The team failed to carry the form from the previous season due to the loss of key players such as Marley Watkins, Graeme Shinnie and Edward Ofere. Furthermore, an approach from Dundee United to bring John Hughes to the Tangerines in October was rejected by Inverness, leaving Hughes frustrated.
The club's defence of the Scottish Cup began by beating Stirling Albion after a replay. In the following round, a Jordan Roberts goal against Motherwell set-up a tie against Hibernian. Inverness lost a replay to the Edinburgh club, who eventually went on to win the competition. Hughes left at the end of the season after mutually terminating his contract, citing a collapse in relations with the board.

Club captain Richie Foran was appointed as his successor, despite having no previous managerial experience. The club started the season scoring fifteen goals in four League Cup group games. They also recorded a 2–2 draw in the league against Celtic, the only club to take a point off the Glaswegians for close to a year. However, this good form dropped off, and Inverness did not win a league game from October until February – when a last-minute overhead kick from Billy Mckay lead to a 2–1 win over Rangers.

Inverness were relegated to the Scottish Championship on the final day of the 2016–17 season, despite recording a 3–2 victory over Motherwell. After Foran was sacked from his position, former manager John Robertson was appointed as his successor on 14 June 2017.

Inverness reached the 2017–18 Scottish Challenge Cup Final, after a 3–2 win over Northern Irish invitee side Crusaders at home, meaning the club's would make their fourth cup final appearance, and John Robertson's second challenge cup final at the club. Inverness went on to lift the cup on 24 March 2018, with Carl Tremarco scoring the only goal of the game seconds before the game was due to go into added time. Robertson became the first manager in the cup's history to lift the trophy twice with the same club.

This cup win kick-started an unbeaten run of 13 games as Inverness went from lingering around the lower echelons of the table to mid-table. However, despite a late push, an injury-time equaliser in the final home game of the season against Dunfermline meant the club narrowly missed out on the promotion play-offs by just two points, finishing in 5th place despite winning 3–0 away to Greenock Morton on the final day, which would've confirmed a play-off slot had Dunfermlne either drawn or lost to Dumbarton.

In August 2018, the club was saddened to learn of the death of ex-player Alan Hercher at 52 years of age. He was the club's first captain, goalscorer and hat-trick scorer – in their first league game against Arbroath. In tribute, a minute's silence was held at Inverness' first home game of the 2018–19 Scottish Championship season against Ayr United which ended in a 0–0 draw.

In the new year, Inverness were doing better than they had the previous season, sitting in the play-off spots despite drawing nearly every game. The club beat rivals Ross County to progress into the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, and reached the semi-final after a last gasp winner from Aaron Doran against Dundee United. This was the 4th semi-final appearance for the club, after appearances in 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2014–15. They played Heart of Midlothian in the semi-final, but were defeated 3–0.

By the end of the season, Inverness had secured a play-off spot, after leapfrogging Ayr United into 3rd place. In the quarter-finals, Inverness defeated Ayr, winning 3–1 in the first leg, and drawing 1–1 in the second, securing a comfortable 4–2 aggregate win. But they lost to Dundee United in the semi-finals. In the first leg, at home, they lost 1–0 while down to 10 men after Liam Polworth was handed a straight red for an apparent high foot on Mark Connolly while making a clearance. In the away leg at Tannadice, Dundee United were awarded and scored a controversial penalty just before half time. The penalty was conceded by a Brad McKay handball, after it deflected off his heel. There was more controversy just after half time, when the referee did not see a handball, and John Robertson was sent to the stands for flicking a water-bottle in aggravation near the 4th official. Inverness lost 3–0, making 4–0 on aggregate. After the match, Robertson stated in an interview with the BBC on what punishments he would receive from the SFA for his actions:

"I don't care. They [the SFA] can ban me for as long as they want. I'm going to start speaking out now because I've had enough of it."

July 2019 saw the beginning of the 25th anniversary celebrations: a new 3rd kit was announced as well as a special^[] friendly game^[]. The League Cup campaign was poor: an 11–10 loss on penalties to Peterhead was followed by wins over Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers, but for the third year on the trot the club failed to progress to the next round. The league, like the League Cup, started off disappointingly, with to a 4–1 defeat by Dundee United at Tannadice Park. However, the following weekend they won 2–1 at home against Arbroath. The game came one year after the death of the club's first captain, Alan Hercher, who scored a hat-trick against the same opposition in the first (home) game of the club's existence, almost 25 years before. This game saw the debut of the anniversary kit.

By the end of February, the club was close to securing a second-place finish, and potentially even winning title ahead of Dundee United, who were dropping crucial points. However, for the first time since the Second World War, the league was postponed: due to the coronavirus pandemic with the SPFL shut down all football in Scotland from the Premiership to local leagues. It was decided to finish the season as it stood, and to do away with the play-offs. This was met with controversy, as Inverness, Partick and Dundee planned on voting against this decision; however, Dundee changed their vote at the last minute, leading to the league standings being finalised. Had Dundee also voted no, the SPFL proposition would have failed and the playoffs would have taken place. Following this outcome, a league reconstruction proposal was made, which would have seen Inverness go up with Dundee United to form a 14 team Scottish Premiership, resulting in Partick being spared relegation into League One. However, as of 22 July 2020, the talks collapsed, with Hearts and Partick taking the matter to court and subsequently to an SFA tribunal.

In the 2020–21 season, Inverness finished in 5th place, narrowly missing out on the promotion play-offs despite spending the early part of the season in the relegation zone. On 30 April 2021, it was announced that the previous season's Challenge Cup Final would not take place and instead the cup would be shared between Inverness and fellow finalists Raith Rovers.

In May 2021, John Robertson took up the role of the club's Sporting Director. The following month, Billy Dodds was appointed as manager.

In the 2021–22 season, Inverness finished in fourth place, despite going through an 11-game winless spell between December and early March, and ultimately made it to the Premiership play-off final, but they were beaten 6–2 on aggregate by St Johnstone.

At the start of the 2022–23 season, Inverness brought in five new signings and a season-long loan. Daniel MacKay was loaned back to his boyhood club from Hibernian. The other signings were Max Ram, Steven Boyd, Zak Delaney, Nathan Shaw and the return of George Oakley.

In July 2022, Inverness made it out of the League Cup group stages for the first time since 2016, before being beaten 4–0 in the following round by Motherwell.

The club finished sixth in the Championship that season despite an eight game winless streak from October until the end of 2022.

In April 2023, Inverness clinched a place in the Scottish Cup final for the second time in eight years, beating Falkirk 3–0. Billy Mckay scored a brace and Daniel MacKay netted the other. It was the first Inverness match that involved the use of VAR, which gave Inverness their opening goal from a penalty, after a Falkirk handball. In the final, Inverness played a treble-chasing Celtic. Despite Daniel MacKay scoring in the 85th minute, Inverness lost to Celtic by 3–1.

Inverness began the 2023–24 season in terrible form, losing eight of their opening ten games of the season in all competitions, resulting in manager Billy Dodds being sacked. Dodds was replaced with former Everton coach and Forest Green Rovers manager Duncan Ferguson.

Following Ferguson's arrival results picked up slightly, but despite a January squad overhaul the club continued fighting relegation. Inverness finished the season in 9th place in the Scottish Championship, entering the relegation play offs. After beating Montrose 1–0 on aggregate in the semi-finals, Inverness lost 5–3 on aggregate to Hamilton Academical in the final, meaning Inverness were relegated to Scottish League One, the first time the club has played in the third tier since 1999.

Following relegation, the club announced it was remaining full time, in addition to a highly controversial move of training facilities 136-miles south to Kelty Hearts' New Central Park. However, the move to Kelty was reversed following the resignation of Chairman Ross Morrison, with the club continuing to train at Fort George. On 13 August 2024, with the club on the brink of administration, they were briefly saved by local businessman and former chairman Alan Savage, who subsequently relieved Scot Gardiner as CEO, cancelled a controversial takeover proposal by Ketan Makwana's Seventy7 Ventures, and cleared debts owed by the club to various sources, including shirt manufacturers Puma. However, despite the efforts to stabilise the club, it was revealed in October that the club was looking likely to head into administration, with £200,000 needed by October 16 to keep the club solvent until the end of the month, and £1.2m to make it to the end of the season.

Despite holding talks with multiple potential investors, most notably Anders Holch Povlsen, the owner of Danish football club FC Midtjylland, it was announced on 18 October 2024 that Inverness would be appointing administrators, becoming the first football club in Scotland to do so since Heart of Midlothian in 2013, the first in-season points deduction in Scottish football since Dunfermline in 2012–13 and the first team to enter administration in the SPFL era. On 22 October 2024 it was confirmed the club had officially entered administration, incurring an immediate 15 point deduction. The following day it was confirmed by the club that manager Duncan Ferguson, assistant manager Gary Bollan and goalkeeping coach Stuart Garden had left the club with immediate effect, with first team coach Scott Kellacher placed in charge of the side, with all time club top goalscorer Billy Mckay filling the role of assistant. On 24 October, despite it being announced that backroom staff were safe from redundancies, Adam Brooks, Cameron Ferguson, Wallace Duffy and Flynn Duffy were released from their contracts by the administrators, as well as Jack Newman's loan from Dundee United being terminated.

On 4 November 2024, the club announced that they had received expressions of interest from 20 potential buyers.

On 17 March 2025, it was revealed that no offers to purchase the club were made before the deadline on 6 March, with loan debts and ownership issues of the surrounding land cited, and that liquidation would be almost inevitable by the end of the season should shareholders not be able to sort the outlying issues.

On 10 April 2025, the administrators announced that Alan Savage was the preferred bidder for the club, on the agreement that he would become 100% shareholder and long-term debts were written off.

On 26 April 2025, Inverness overcame their 15 point deduction to secure safety with a 3–0 win over league champions, Arbroath, and a 2–0 win over Montrose the following week to ultimately finish 7th. Had Inverness not received a points deduction, the club would have finished as runner up in the league, 6 points behind champions, Arbroath.

On 5 June 2025, it was officially announced that the club had been taken out of administration after all shareholders transferred their shares to Alan Savage.