From a pipe dream to reality: Inverness Athletic chairman Sandy Stephen buzzing at go ahead being given for new football facility across from Inverness Royal Academy
Inverness Athletic chairman Sandy Stephen says the new football facility set for the fields across from Inverness Royal Academy is the stuff of dreams.
The North Caledonian League outfit have joined with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, their community trust and their women’s team as part of the project, which was given the green light by Highland Council.
Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner and women’s team manager Karen Mason have spoken of their emotion at hearing the news, and Stephen was just as excited.
“To be honest, it’s still sinking in,” Stephen enthused.
“What seemed like an absolute pipe dream two years ago has slowly but surely become a reality.
“With the work that the Community Trust do, and that Caley Thistle and Caley Thistle Women do, it’s nice to have Inverness Athletic’s name associated with that and to be working with them.
“It’s a nice feeling, and I’m really excited for what’s going to happen. Buzzing is the word I keep using, I’m just looking forward to the future now.
“I’ve waited seven years, it doesn’t matter if I have to wait another two to get us playing on it. We’ll get there at some point.”
Much like ICT’s women’s team, Athletic have gone through their share of searching for pitches to train and play on, but this facility will give them much-desired stability.
“We had seven years of dotting about trying to find something, but it not working – eventually you get something like this and you think it isn’t real.”
Stephen added. “This will give us a home. We’ve never had that before, we’ve always just been nomads.
“This is our seventh season now in the North Caley, and in all those years we’ve never had a steady home, so to have somewhere we can start laying down roots is amazing.
“We’ve been plodding away and doing our thing, so this is unbelievable news.”