INVERNESS legend Sergei Baltacha last night hailed the vision and bravery of the men who fought to put Caley Thistle on the map.

The former Dynamo Kiev, Ipswich and USSR icon was the first manager of the merged club who took their bow in the senior game 20 years ago this summer.

Now, as they stand on the brink of their first major trophy, the 56-year-old – who won the European Cup Winners’ Cup as a player with Dynamo – is thrilled to see Inverness near the end of their journey to the top.

He said: “When I was leaving St Johnstone and looking to make the transition into management I went up to Caledonian.

“A lot of people told me I could have found a better club because of my past but they sold the future to me, that they could become a league club and grow with the city. I saw the potential and don’t regret my decision.”

Baltacha, still coaching with Charlton’s youth academy, emerged as boss of the hybrid of former enemies Caley and Thistle.

But the divisions the marriage created were bitter and there are still those who refuse to recognise the union.

The Ukraine-born World Cup veteran insists, though, that all the credit goes to chairman Dougie McGilvray and others determined to see the club rise above the warfare its genesis had created.

He admitted: “It was difficult to manage through the merger. There wasn’t much understanding back then about why the clubs needed to join together.

“And I understood. The history was there, the rivalry was there.

“But along with others I was trying to make them see this wasn’t for the short-term of their clubs. This wasn’t about the next year or even the next two, three or four years.

“This was about the future of the town and about taking a big leap forward.

“Look at Inverness now. I’m glad they had men brave enough to see it through. The chairman – and the others who supported him – went in the right direction. They could see the big picture.

“I’m proud now to have been part of it, looking at where they are today.”

Baltacha only managed Caledonian Thistle – they didn’t add the Inverness until two years later – for a season before heading back to Perth to be nearer his family.

And he revealed he has been humbled by the support from Scotland at the news daughter Elena is battling cancer.

As he looked back down memory lane, Baltacha said: “Inverness still have a big piece of my heart.

“We were part-time back then and the facilities weren’t there. We were still playing at Telford Street and training in a public park.

“But there are people who have been there from the very start – great guys such as the groundsman Tommy Cumming and secretary Jim Falconer – and I’m thrilled for them that they are having a day like today.”