The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Gardiner’s tribute to a team effort behind the scenes at Caley Jags
Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner insists a team effort off the park has helped the Championship club prepare for the Scottish Cup final.
Inverness are ready to tackle Ange Postecoglou’s champions and League Cup winners, who are on the hunt for a worldrecord eighth domestic treble.
Following an injuryravaged season, the Highlanders missed out on promotion by finishing sixth in the Championship after a last-day defeat by Ayr United on May 5, their last competitive fixture.
However, for the 2015 winners to have the chance to lift the trophy against all the odds is quite the ending to a dramatic run to Hampden.
Gardiner said: “It has been a rollercoaster season. I thought I had been around the block but nothing compares to this. We were out of the Scottish Cup for three days, now I’m getting ready to try on my cup final suit.
“Everyone involved in the club has done brilliantly.
“The staff have been under a lot of stress and strain the last few weeks. We’ve had sickness bugs and all sorts of things and we don’t have a huge resource.
“We had a meeting with Celtic and the SFA on Thursday and there was a cast of around 35 people around the table.
“Our secretary, Fiona McWilliams, said when speaking about one single matter, she had correspondence from three separate people from Celtic.
“Listen, it’s a brilliant problem to have. Fiona, and I and (finance manager) Evelyn (Brown) are all doing 10 different things at once, while Celtic had three people doing one job. That’s the difference.
“But on Saturday, it will be down to 11 men against 11 men.”
Gardiner beamed with pride at seeing the ICT crest placed on to the frontage of Scotland’s national stadium as the clock ticks towards show-time.
He said: “Seeing Hampden’s final preparations on Thursday, with the huge Caley Thistle badge going on the front of the stadium next to the Celtic badge, makes you feel just how huge an occasion this is.
“I have been lucky enough in my career to be at cup finals all over the world, including the World Cup, Champions League finals, and FA Cup and League Cup finals, but when it’s your club, on this stage, it’s special.
“Strangely, with the sun being out, it also makes it seem like a bigger occasion. You remember in your youth, all these cup finals seemed to be played on sunny days. Rose-tinted memories, perhaps, but it creates waves of goosebumps.”