At a lunchtime press conference at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Vice-Chairman and Director of Football Graeme Bennett confirmed that Caley Thistle Head Coach Charlie Christie has resigned with immediate effect.

Bennett commented at length that the decision was not one of mutual consent and that the club had hoped Charlie would have remained in the position for "years to come".

However, to his credit, Charlie has decided that the job is putting too much pressure on both him and his family and has decided to put them first and step down from his current role at the club.

[pictures supplied by Trevor Martin]

After 314 appearances as a player for Caley Thistle, Charlie Christie has decided to call time on his managerial career at the club after only 63 games in charge (+4 as interim manager when previous managers have left).

During the close season, there was a revealing interview in the media where Charlie admitted that the pressures of managing a Premier League club were far greater than he expected. In the article he made the point that he had been taking all comments, both positive and negative, to heart and had questioned his own suitability for the job.

He went on to say that he now felt more able to cope with them a little better, but it would seem that these pressures, along with the shaky start to this season have brought matters to a head and the ICT legend has made the brave decision to step aside.

There will likely be a wide range of comments both in support of Charlie and also from the "told you so" brigade but we here at CaleyThistleOnline are truly sorry to see a man with ICT in his heart have to make such a gut wrenching decision and walk away.

At a lunchtime press conference at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Vice-Chairman and Director of Football Graeme Bennett commented as follows:

"I can officially confirm that Charlie Christie has asked to terminate his contract as First team Coach with immediate effect. This has come as a shock to myself and the rest of the board but Charlie has reached the view that the pressures of the job have affected his personal life and that his wife and family must come first. It has been a stressful time for Charlie who does not want to make any comment at this time and I would hope the media would respect that and not harass him. Charlie has been a great asset to ICT from day one, as a player who made over 300 appearances, running the Centenary Club, coaching and for the last 18 months as Manager. Our Chairman Alan Savage is on a business trip to Kazakhstan but has asked me to express his surprise and disappointment at Charlie's decision but his full acceptance of his reasons.

This is certainly not one of those "by mutual consent" resignations. The first I knew was when Charlie came to me on Sunday morning saying the stresses of management was proving greater than he had anticipated. He felt that in fairness to his wife and family he needed to step down. To be fair, there have been a couple of occasions in the past when Charlie felt the pressures had become too much. Being a local man, he is perhaps too accessible to media and public alike. His resignation has nothing to do with current results, as we're traditionally slow starters down the years, but has everything to do with his peace of mind and his not enjoying his job. We as a Board sympathise with Charlie. The success of ICT has led to raised expectations which have been rather unrealistic. That doesn't help. A genuinely nice and decent and honourable guy has felt pressures which he can no longer cope with and he is relieved at finally making the decision. He does not want to speak to the media at this stage but has asked me to pass on his best wishes to the team, coaching staff and the board and his gratitude for having the opportunity to manage this Club. Charlie was a success in this job, as anyone who saw our games with Rangers and Celtic last season will agree. We had hoped he would stay for years to come and had actually begun discussions with him on a new contract. The last thing the Directors wanted was to go looking for a new manager once again - we've been unlucky on this front in the past, only this time we have not had our manager lured away by another Club. The Chairman is back in Inverness late tomorrow and there will be a board meeting early this week to discuss the next steps relating to a successor to Charlie. In the meantime, Donald Park will take charge of the team in preparation for Saturday's home game with Dundee United. But I wish to publicly thank Charlie Christie for all he has done for this Club. He can hold his head high in that respect and I am sure the supporters will join the Board in sympathising with his decision and respecting it."