On the first Saturday of August, my mum and I drove along the A96 for Caley's opening game of the season at Pittodrie. I was not in the cheeriest of moods (admittedly, I am almost never in the cheeriest of moods); it was only three days since I had moved house back to the Highlands from the granite city, and already I had to brave the road of doom once more. To cap it all, a combination of my mother's driving and a traffic jam at Fochabers High Street - my top candidate for the award for Street Most Likely To Be A Gateway To Hell - we nearly missed kickoff. In addition, Caley's recruiting over the summer did not exactly fill us with confidence (we had just made Andy Barrowman our top earner on the back of one good year in div 2), our manager had overseen an appalling collapse in form at the end of the previous campaign and, of course, we had never, ever won at Pittodrie.
Over that first 90 minutes, we were deserved 2-0 winners, the team showed the bite, energy and enthusiasm of a pack of wolves, and Barrowman repaid the faith shown in him with a superb poacher's finish for the opening goal and an excellent individual performance. The future was bright indeed.
How wrong were we?!
Nine months and thirty-six league games later, Inverness need at least a draw against Falkirk to stay up. Craig Brewster left in January, at least two months after it was quite clear the game was up, his star man Barrowman has scored a grand total of one goal (a penalty!) since his debut strike, and it is only thanks to the new incumbent in the manager's chair that we find ourselves in control of our own destiny. Terry Butcher's record of 20 points in 14 league games is just about top six form, and, while the football has not been pleasing on the eye, we are a damn sight harder to break down than we were under Brew.
The flip side of the coin is that, out of the last three games, we have drawn two (both of which we led) and lost one (which we dominated). So, incredibly, there is a feeling that we should be home and dry by now. Instead we are left with a one-off match to preserve our SPL status (NB the chances of results falling in a way that gets St. Mirren relegated are minimal indeed), a game, which according to some reports, is worth 2 million in extra income to the winner for next season. In addition, the players on the failing side face cuts in wages, or worse release from contracts. At Inverness, there are sixteen players whose contracts end after Saturday's match. At Falkirk, it has already been hinted that the club's finances could not cope with relegation, threatening the future of the team itself.
No pressure, then, lads.
At least one set of players and fans will be left suffering at about 2-30pm on Saturday afternoon, if you can call what football supporters go through "suffering". I just hope with all my heart that I'm not one of them, but if I am, I wouldn't come to me looking for cheery conversation or anything.
Ladies and gentlemen, this Saturday is going to be very stressful indeed. But however it turns out, I will still be back there next season. For better or for worse.
L.
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