Scottish Premiership

THE biggest shock in Scottish Cup history.The greatest-ever headline on the nation’s sports pages.The crazy Celtic Park upset took place 25 years ago on February 8Credit: Times Newspapers LtdIt was a game which led to the famous Scottish Sun headlineCredit: News Group Newspapers LtdThe headline is still remembered to this dayCredit: News Group Newspapers LtdCharlie Christie will never forget the game – or the iconic headline!Credit: Ken Macpherson – Commissioned by The Sun GlasgowTwenty-five years ago today, Super Caley went ballistic — and Celtic were atrocious.And Highland great Charlie Christie, the ex-Celt who was man of the match in the 3-1 win, admits the legendary headline in The Scottish Sun has become just as famous as the game itself.Christie, now 58, told SunSport: “The headline is synonymous with the game. I use the word ‘ballistic’ all the time now and it’s not a word I’d ever used before then.“Sky Sports showed the headline the next day when we were celebrating, our fans have used it in chants — it summed it up at the time, and it still does.”Ryan Christie’s first-ever trip to Celtic Park revolved around tantrums and tears.For dad Charlie, it was all about souvenirs.The one he kept, the one he lost and the one he missed out on.Twenty-five years ago today — long before he would star for Inverness Caley Thistle or Celts — four-year-old Ryan cheered his father on the Highlanders’ greatest night.Most read in FootballA club just two years older than the little boy stunned John Barnes’ all-stars in one of the most famous giantkillings in Scottish Cup history.Super Caley did, indeed, go ballistic — and so did Ryan when the original tie was called off due to storm damage at Parkhead.Celtic board is getting pelters from fans but that’s NOT where blame lies for transfer flopCharlie recalled: “Ryan threw a bit of a tantrum when the game was called off ten days earlier.“To calm him down, his mum Sharon promised him that when the game was rescheduled he would definitely get to it.“Little did we know it would be a rain-soaked Tuesday night. He was delighted.“You see how his career has panned out with his time at Celtic, it was quite fitting he was there that night.“He remembers the celebration. He doesn’t remember much of the game — typical for a four-year-old.“But he remembers the feeling of euphoria with the 4500 fans that something special had occurred.”Caley Thistle’s celebrations peaked when Steve Paterson’s heroes linked hands and charged towards their jubilant fans.But Christie was absent from the iconic image.Caley Thistle players celebrateCredit: Times Newspapers LtdHe explained: “I missed out on the most famous photograph in the club’s history.“Some idiot took me to the sidelines and grabbed me and gave me the man of the match award.“I think Ryan and Sharon were down there, too, and I sort of lost what was happening behind me.“I ran over to them after they’d finished and said, ‘Thanks a lot lads, you could have waited!’“I was a bit disappointed I’m not in the photo but it was great the fans stayed behind. It was another layer on that night. That picture, like the Scottish Sun’s famous headline, is quite synonymous with the game — the lads with their arms out-stretched going over to the fans.”Along with his man of the match award, Christie kept the No 10 shirt he wore in the great giantkilling.But it was then LOST on the night of the club’s 25th anniversary celebrations in 2019 — and he’s never been reunited with it.The Highland great revealed: “It was the 25-year anniversary dinner at the Kingsmills Hotel.“We selected a few strips which meant something and that, of course, was one of them.“Some of the young lads were wearing them around the room.“I took my shirt down and I was on the microphone that night.Paul Sheerin scores penalty.Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd“When we collected all the strips at the end of the night, it was gone.“Dan Mackay, who was an academy player I had coached and later went to Hibs, wore it and laid it out with the rest at the end of the night.“But it disappeared and I’ve never got it back.”And twenty-five years on from their greatest night, Christie has revealed boss Steve Paterson had to change his team at the last moment.He said: “Davide Xausa was unavailable for the game because there was a late problem with his registration.“He was Canadian and I don’t know if it was something to do with his international clearance.“It led to Barry Wilson playing in the No 10 role behind Dennis Wyness, which would never otherwise have happened.“Barry scored one and won the penalty and I’ve often thought it was another little thing, like the first game being postponed, which worked in our favour.“Steve was at our game last week and we were speaking about the Celtic game.“He said that was the game that planted Inverness football on the map. Those were his words.“He’s right. It laid the foundations. It gave a six-year-old club the belief that it could really go places.“We were sixth in the First Division at the time. And coming through the divisions, we always felt we could make it to the First Division but we weren’t sure about making the final step.“I just feel that night gave everyone around the club that extra bit of belief.“John Barnes was a fantastic player but it just hadn’t worked for him at the club.The monumental shock defeat led to John Barnes’ exitCredit: PA:Press Association“Things weren’t great at the time because they were trailing Rangers by quite a bit, which is never a good thing.“You could actually feel that the tide was turning and the fans were getting fed up with the way the club was run.”Christie recalls the wild celebrations on the way home to the Highlands — and for a few days afterwards.He said: “You can imagine the journey home from Glasgow.“Celtic were good enough to put some beers on the bus.“We stopped on the way up the road at Pitlochry, a usual haunt after away games.“The next day — and it was said as an off-the-cuff comment — ‘let’s meet for a bit of lunch at the golf club’.“It was Fairways Golf Club, who were a sponsor of the club at the time, and a wee bit out of the centre.“What you thought might be three or four turned into 12 or 13.“It was just a great day.“We had Sky Sports on the telly and we were all over the headlines.“It was a Caley Thistle stronghold and a lot of the fans were coming in.“Word got out we were in there and it was a special feeling where you know you’ve done something special.”THEY returned up the A9 as Highland heroes after the greatest win in the club’s history.But Charlie Christie feared Inverness Caley Thistle would have been on the road to ruin if they had not won at Celtic Park.Life-saving cash from one of Scottish football’s biggest shocks allowed them to pay for the tarmac outside their own ground.And 25 years on — with the club now in the grip of administration — Christie has told the current squad to summon the spirit of 2000 to get on the road to recovery.He revealed: “People forget we were really struggling financially, mainly because of the road which we had to put money towards when the stadium was built.“It was a legacy of debt we had.“Dougie McGilvray, the chairman, did a great job and his successor David Sutherland, too.”Duncan Ferguson left his role as manager after Inverness were plunged into administrationCredit: Kenny RamsayMcGilvray and Sutherland were on the pitch at the end and Christie added: “It was quite a turnaround at the club. We restructured the debt and we were able to step on.“I spoke to the boys when we went into administration. I brought up 2000.“These are young guys of 20 or 21 years of age.“They probably didn’t know me but I speak to them intermittently to update them on where we are as a club.“I said to them, ‘Guys, we can come out the other end. We did it in 2000’.“A lot of it in 2000 was down to that one result.“The boys in that team, the majority of them were pals.“After the win, we had contact from ex-pats in Australia and South Africa to congratulate us.“But people don’t realise — and we kept it undercover to a degree at the time — how bad the financial problems at the club were.“I told the players we can bounce on again. Make no mistake, there’s no reason that we can’t.“Whether we go back to Parkhead and beat Celtic again, I’m not so sure. But we can certainly get back to the Premiership again.“It’s good for the young lads to hear because a lot of them weren’t born when the game took place. It’s good for them to see where the club has been in the past.”Head coach Scott Kellacher takes his young squad to Arbroath today as they look to recover the 15-point penalty for plummeting into administration last autumn.Scott Kellacher and assistant manager Gary BollanCredit: SNSThey lie in ninth place, two points from potential safety, after back-to-back wins over Queen of the South and Alloa.Most of Kellacher’s players weren’t even born when the club went ballistic in 2000.But walking through the corridors at the Caledonian Stadium, they are given reminders of some of the heroics of previous teams.Dennis Wyness, one of the stars at Celtic Park, scored the only goal to eliminate Seville-bound Celts from the Scottish Cup in 2003 under boss John Robertson.Greg Tansey, Edward Ofere and David Raven scored in the 2015 Hampden semi-final win over the Hoops — one remembered for a handball on the Caley Jags goal-line which the officials amazingly missed.Virgil van Dijk and John Guidetti scored for Celtic but John Hughes’ Caley Thistle reached the final with Marley Watkins and James Vincent netting against the Bairns and captain Graeme Shinnie lifting the trophy.Highland legend Christie added: “The 2000 game was, for many years, our best result.“But I do think we usurped it in 2015 when we beat Celtic in the semi-final at Hampden.“I know we beat Celtic in 2003 with John, and I played in that game too.“But to go to Hampden to play a Celtic team that was going for the Double — and, yes, we got all the breaks that were going with the handball — it usurped us.READ MORE SUN STORIES“We won the Cup in 2015 against Falkirk at Hampden but that semi-final was special.”Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page More