Former Inverness Caley Thistle manager John Hughes reflects on beating Falkirk to win Scottish Cup 10 years Hampden triumph: ‘I felt we were always destined to get success’
Today marks 10 years since Inverness Caledonian Thistle lifted the Scottish Cup – but the manager who got his hands on the trophy believes the seeds were planted for the triumph more than a year earlier.
John Hughes took charge of the Caley Jags in December 2013, and within months was preparing for a cup final.
That did not go ICT’s way on that occasion, losing out to Aberdeen in a penalty shoot-out in the League Cup final, but it gave the Highland club a taste of what could be achieved by the perennial underdogs.
With that defeat serving as motivation to go one better next time, and his first full pre-season in charge of the team placing immediate trust in his players, Hughes’ Caley Thistle side sent out a statement of intent early in the 2014/15 campaign by defeating Celtic 1-0 in their second home game of the season.
After that, there was complete buy-in from the players, and they carried that momentum all the way to Hampden, where they again defeated Celtic in a controversial semi final before seeing off Falkirk 2-1 to win their first major trophy.
“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years, it feels like it was yesterday,” Hughes reflected.
“I felt we were always destined to get success, even though everyone sees Inverness as a provincial club. You never get too far ahead of yourself, and you don’t want to put too much pressure on the boys, but I knew what I had.
“I got lucky. A lot of the work was done by Terry Butcher, who recruited very well. I found some diamonds like Ryan Christie, but I only had to add one or two players, then get my style on the team.
“It was probably the most different pre-season those boys had done in their lives, and I think they would tell you that – we asked the boys to come back at a target body weight, and everyone did that, so we were off and running from day one.
“Looking back on it, getting to the League Cup final in 2014 played a big part in it as well. The boys got a taste of it, but the preparation for the League Cup final was terrible.
“It’s those things that you look back on and think it had a part to play – learning from the League Cup final, beating Celtic early in the league that year – even if we didn’t realise it at the time.”
It was not necessarily a straightforward route to the final either.
Entering at the fourth round, Caley Thistle needed a replay to see off St Mirren, before registering their only victory of the season against Premiership rivals Partick Thistle in the fifth round.
A 1-0 win over Raith Rovers set up a famous semi final against Celtic, where Josh Meekings should have conceded a penalty and been sent off for handling Leigh Griffiths’ effort, only for Craig Gordon to be sent off at the other end.
Eventually, David Raven scored an extra time winner to set up a first ever Scottish Cup final for Inverness against Falkirk, where Marley Watkins and James Vincent scored the iconic goals that sealed a first ever major trophy for the club in their 22-year history.
“Everybody talks about fate and a perfect storm, and we were getting that,” Hughes said.
“We had no fear whatsoever in the semi final. We wanted to be on the front foot and take them on, and the most pleasing thing about that was the winning goal.
“It was one full back, Shinnie, breaking into the box and putting it across goal, then the other full back David Raven putting it in the net. That’s something we were working on way back in pre-season.
“It all flipped for me going into the final, because now we were the favourites and Falkirk were the underdogs. I don’t know if it was because Falkirk was one of my old teams, but I started feeling the pressure a little bit more.
“The only problem I had was team selection really. I had to choose between Aaron Doran and Danny Williams, and then David Raven was struggling with injury.
“I said I would give him right up to the last minute, but he is such a professional he said he couldn’t make it. I wanted him to be on the bench, but he said if he wasn’t fit to play, he wasn’t fit to come off the bench, so I should give that spot to someone else. That tells you the kind of character he was – it wasn’t about him, it was about the team.
“We were very good in the first half, comfortable, but in the second half it was all Falkirk. I was sitting watching the game develop, and Falkirk got their goal from a set-piece, and we thought we would have to change it.
“We were waiting on Scott Kellacher, who was in the toilet, because he used to get all the subs ready, and just as we were ready to make the sub Carl Tremarco got sent off.
“We had to put everything on hold and figure it out. Shinnie went over to left back, but we didn’t have another right back in the squad with David Raven being out.
“I asked James Vincent to go in there, so how he got up the pitch to score the winner is beyond me. He could only get there because he had an engine that nobody else had.
“I keep calling James Vincent a legend, because Terry Butcher tried to take James with him to Hibs. James went down to have a look around Easter Road and Edinburgh, and when he came back up I sat down with him and told him what we were trying to do, and he decided to stay at Inverness. It was a fantastic decision for him.
“Our name was on the trophy. To do that, and make history, was unbelievable.”
When the final whistle was blown at Hampden, confirming Caley Thistle’s first ever Scottish Cup triumph, Hughes felt a real sense of satisfaction watching his players celebrate on the pitch with their families, and the club’s supporters.
It may seem even more remarkable now than it did at the time, given the fall Inverness have had from finishing third in the Premiership and winning a cup to sitting in administration in the third tier inside a decade.
For Hughes, it certainly ranks as the best moment in his career – all the more so because he was able to do it his way.
“I loved that we could bring that joy to the city,” he added.
“Inverness were always seen as a provincial club, which was brilliant for me because I could create a siege mentality. Even if nobody was saying anything, I would tell the boys that everybody thought we were a bunch of country bumpkins from Inverness.
“Winning the Scottish Cup, and seeing the fans come out and celebrate, that’s what football is all about.
“It was the best two and-a-half years I’ve ever had, and to this day I really do regret leaving. I had a wonderful time there, met some great people, and I love the lifestyle up there because it just let you get on with your football.
“Another thing everybody forgets is that our football was different class. When we were on it, nobody could get near us, and that’s all credit to the players for taking it on board.
“Seeing that total football get success – you can take away my medal, that’s what makes me the proudest because we did it the right way.
“Everyone always thinks the grass is greener, and there’s something bigger and better out there, but if you speak to Scott Kellacher or any of the boys, the message I put into that dressing room from day one was that it would be the best time of their lives.
“If they did what I was asking them to do, it would never get any better than that. Maybe Graeme Shinnie would say Aberdeen has topped it, being a local boy, but if you speak to the rest of the boys they will all tell you I was bang on.
“Every day I was in there saying we could do something special, and it would be the best time of our lives, and it worked out like that. Sometimes your dreams come true.”