ON THE ROAD catches up with the famous Christie family as they help Caley Thistle’s fight for survival

Kelty Hearts 0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1  

It is Friday afternoon and Charlie Christie is on the road. He is driving more than 1,200 miles, there and back, to see his son.

The chief executive of Inverness Caledonian Thistle has not abandoned his duties, however, when it comes to finding a buyer for the club.

‘I was on the phone to the administrators this morning and there are two or three strong declarations of interest,’ he says. ‘These people have made serious enquiries, asking the proper questions. So there are possibilities.’

Christie is heading south to watch his son, Ryan, play for Bournemouth. It’s the weekend of the Scottish internationalist’s 30th birthday. Christie junior is a Premier League player now, but the family are forever entwined with ICT.

That was one of the main reasons why Christie senior stepped in as chief executive when the club entered administration last October. ‘Alan Savage was key to that decision, too,’ he says, referring to the Inverness businessman who has come in to address debts and find a buyer for the club. ‘I have total respect for him as a businessman and as a person.’

Christie believes there has been significant progress. ‘I feel the fanbase has increased and there is not the disillusionment that existed under the previous regime,’ he says.

A fan himself, of course, he has also played for Inverness Caledonian and Inverness Thistle as well as Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He has been manager, academy director and now chief executive. He is also a hero.

His part in the Scottish Cup victory over Celtic 26 years ago has never been forgotten. ‘It was my greatest day on a football pitch,’ he says simply. ‘Some of my friends say the club is in my DNA and I suppose that is true. But my feeling is that it’s not about what me or the young fellow (Ryan) have done for the club. It’s what the club has done for us.

‘A businessman who is a fan told me recently that he knows when I make a decision it is for the good of the club and not for the good of me. I am at the age where I don’t worry about much personally. I am settled and my kids have done well, so it is all about the club’.

Christie would like to play a part in restructuring the club when new buyers come in, but is keen to re-establish close links to the local community. ‘That was strong when we were in the Highland League but I feel we have lost a bit of that over the years. It would be great to bring it back.

‘You hope we will turn a corner and things will get better. We know there is light at the end of the tunnel.’

As the road unfolds to Bournemouth, he addresses the role his son has played in the club. Ryan, of course, played for Caley Thistle from 2013 to 2015 before spectacular success at Celtic and then the Cherries, where he is contention for a place in the EPL team of the year.

There have been reports that the midfielder has given £20,000 to the Highland club, but his dad says: ‘I don’t know about that. I have asked the young man but I haven’t got an answer. All I get is a smile and he says nothing. But I do know he has helped the academy out over the years when they have needed goals or any other equipment.’

He has also enlisted some EPL support for ICT. ‘Marcus Tavernier and Antoine Semenyo are always asking how the club is doing,’ says Christie of the Bournemouth players. ‘And, in my bag, I have a club shirt for the Bournemouth chef who is now a fan.’

It is Saturday afternoon and David Chiffers has been on the road since morning. ‘Yes, it has taken us just about two and a half hours,’ he says after he parks the car outside New Central Park for the League One match with Kelty. His eight-year-old grandson, Mason, has been riding shotgun from Inverness to deepest Fife.

‘He has been coming since he was three,’ says grandad. ‘So he has watched us in a cup final against Celtic in 2023 and witnessed us going into administration.’

He adds: ‘I have been here since the start in 1994.’

The club were formed as a result of the merger between Inverness Caledonian and Inverness Thistle. ‘I was Thistle before that,’ says Chiffers.

The trip to Kelty is poignant as it signposts the beginning of Caley Thistle’s anguished season. The club plotted to move their training base to Kelty’s New Central Park – 135 miles away from home – until a public outcry forced a rethink. Administration, however, soon followed. 

Chiffers is bullish about the future. ‘I believe we are coming out the other side. I believe in both Alan Savage and Charlie Christie. I feel we are building again and I prefer to regard it as exciting times in that we could come out of it all stronger.’

Andrew Moffat, of the Wyness Shuffle podcast, also treks up to the stadium with a relative spring in his step.

‘We are in a state of flux, so it is obviously slightly worrying,’ he says. ‘But the focus is to get beyond Annan in the league table and out of the relegation play-off spot.’

He says administration was ‘the best course of action because of what happened under the previous stewardship’. He adds: ‘It is a necessary evil and we’ve had to go through it. Alan Savage is a successful businessman who has the interests of the club at heart and his aims align with the fans. We want to become a solvent club with links to the community. Charlie Christie simply is Caley Thistle. So these are the ideal guys to take the club forward.’

And the football under manager Scott Kellacher? ‘It is exciting, adventurous, with a lot of young players,’ he says. ‘Alfie Bavidge can get you off your seat.’

Two hours later, he does. The forward, on loan from Aberdeen, scores the only goal of the game to bring Caley Thistle within striking distance of Annan.

It is Friday afternoon and the manager is planning the road ahead. ‘It has been frenetic. But I have always wanted to do the job,’ says Scot Kellacher, appointed in the wake of administration.

‘I have worked my way up here from the under 9s. I love the club. It’s my life and has been for 21 years.’

He does not say this lightly. Kellacher has known dark times. In 2021, he was taken to hospital with viral encephalitis and then contracted Covid.

‘It took me a long, long time to recover,’ he says. ‘Viral encephalitis involves swelling in the brain and spine. Covid struck at the same time. I was hit hard. I was on oxygen for 12 days. It entailed five or six months of recovery. It was a really hard experience for the family. I have slowly got back into the swing of things.’

He does not shrink from the altogether different challenges posed by administration. ‘I am the sort of man who won’t dip his toe in. I’m all in.’

Inverness born and bred, he has always had a bond with the club. ‘If there was ever a time you would do everything to help the club it is now. I am giving it everything I’ve got,’ he says.

Determined to be positive in the face of trials, Kellacher has been aided by top performance coach Donald MacNaughton in building an upbeat spirit at the club.

‘We have all been relentless in training so we have the best opportunity to move up the league. I have great staff and players and we are pulling in the same direction,’ he says.

‘We need to give ourselves a fighting chance to stay safe. We have a really young squad and we are all learning. I am becoming a bit calmer. I understand players’ side of things and my own side of things and then can come up with the best scenario for going forward.

‘It has been a rollercoaster. But when people go on a rollercoaster they do so to enjoy it. I have enjoyed it.’

He adds: ‘It’s hard, hard work but I want that. Some of the moments we have had this season will live with me for the rest of my life. I was first-team coach when we won the Scottish Cup in 2015. I have seen the best but, with administration I have also seen the worse. I know where we want to get to.’

At 5pm on a Saturday in Fife, Kellacher beams as he praises his players and the travelling fans. The immediate journey is back to Inverness. Three points make the most convivial of travelling companions.