Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, and hosts home games at Caledonian Stadium.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle won the Scottish Cup in 2015 and was runner-up in the Scottish League Cup a year earlier. They have also won the Scottish Challenge Cup three times and the Scottish Football League First Division twice. Its highest Premiership position is 3rd in 2014–15.

History

Formation and early years

Prior to 1994, there were three football clubs in Inverness competing in the Highland League: Clachnacuddin, Caledonian, and Inverness Thistle. There had also been three smaller sides, Inverness Citadel, Inverness Celtic, and Inverness Union who competed in the Highland League in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries; the latter of these three smaller clubs merged with Inverness Thistle in 1895.

All three clubs had won a number of local titles, and 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 Thistle, 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

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