Inverness manager John Robertson has dared his players to dream ahead of their William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final against Dundee United.
Caley Thistle recorded one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history, beating John Barnes’ Celtic as a First Division side in 1999, and won the competition in 2015, 21 years after they entered the league.
Robertson has told his players they should be inspired by that rich tradition and see Sunday’s trip to Tannadice as a chance to create more history.
The former Hearts player, who was part of the Jambos’ triumphant squad in 1998, said: “We have a very, very proud tradition in the Scottish Cup. Since we were formed 25 years ago we always seem to do well.
“As a lower-league club there were plenty of knockouts and as the years went on we have been to semi-finals, final of the League Cup, winning the Scottish Cup.
“Once you get to this stage again, the fans will start believing. And that’s important. They will look at this cup tie and think if we get through suddenly we are in the last four and look what happened the last time. They beat Celtic and won the final against Falkirk.
“We want them to dream, we want them to believe and we want the players to do the same. As a player you want to win trophies, as a manager you want to win national trophies.
“I’m sure the fans will be like me, deep down they will be thinking maybe this could be our year again. I hope the players are exactly the same.”
Dundee United’s on-loan Bournemouth full-back Charlie Seaman is taking a less romantic approach to the game.
Seaman, whose team beat Inverness 1-0 in the Ladbrokes Championship on Tuesday, said: “Obviously it’s a quarter-final and we want to push on but the main thing is to focus on the game.
“If you win the game, the semi-final will come so I don’t think we need to worry too much about that, just focus on the game, play well.”
