Wyness takes pay cut to join Caley Thistle

CALEY Thistle's record goalscorer Dennis Wyness has officially returned to the fold after signing a two year deal with the club.

Wyness (29) was widely expected to rejoin the Inverness club after his contract with Hearts expired but is already an important first-team player for manager Charlie Christie, having been on loan to Inverness from Tynecastle since last August.

The move will mean a wage cut for the striker, who is less than 10 goals away from scoring a century for Caley Jags, but Christie says the striker is happy to be back on familiar territory.

"There's no doubt moving to Hearts for a couple years meant he's done quite well financially out of it and I'm delighted for him. He's one of those individuals in football who thoroughly deserves it, " Christie said.

"We've taken him back up here and we've agreed terms and made them as agreeable as we could.

He's delighted about it."

Wyness has indicated his long term commitment to Caley Thistle by buying a house in the area and though Christie acknowledged the striker had not finished the season on top form, welcomed the new deal as great news for the club.

"Dennis is a superbly talented footballer and is one of those players who suits the club and, more than that, the club suits him.

"I really hope now Dennis will continue what he's been doing with the club for several seasons, " Christie said.

"He's been a fantastic signing for the club from day one, not just at First Division level, but now in the Premier League.

Long may that continue.

He's certainly an integral part in my thinking.

Wyness was brought to Caley Thistle on loan from Aberdeen by manager Steve Paterson and signed on for the Inverness club in January 2000.

Already Caley Thistle's all-time top scorer, he added 11 goals over the last season to bring his total tally to 91.

During the transfer window, there had been rumours of interest from other clubs in the Aberdeen-born striker, but Christie had already come to a pre-contract agreement with the player in January and regarded Wyness's return to Caley Thistle's books as a done deal.

Christie also has the advantage of a longstanding relationship with Wyness as player as well as manager, and played up front with him on many occasions.

"He's not blessed with dynamic pace, but he more than makes up for it with a terrific first touch of the ball, something that's very hard to teach the kids, " Christie commented.

Wyness confirmed he would be earning less than he had with the Edinburgh side but added:

"I'm just happy to get back playing."

Though he is just a few goals away from chalking up 100 for the club, Wyness has no set targets for the coming season.

"I just want to get back into the team and take it from there. I'm not really one for setting targets, " he said.

"It was a very poor end to the season, but hopefully at the start of the new one I'll get back to playing properly."

Wyness has formed an impressive strike partnership with Craig Dargo and Christie expects to see his strike force reunited when the season starts, even though Dargo is one of a number of players, along with keeper Mark Brown, Ian Black, David Proctor and Darren Dods, Dundee United manager Craig Brewster is interested in taking to Tannadice.

As yet, however, the new Caley Thistle manager has had no official communication from his predecessor and believes the threat of a Brewster raid on Inverness players may have been overstated, with Brewster's first priority moving some of the highly paid underperformers currently signed to the Terrors.

As for his own players, Christie hopes they will stick with Inverness over any move to the Tayside club.

"I'm confident when they think long and hard about it such a move might not be as glamourous as it first appeared, " Christie commented.

Nor has there been any further news regarding Caley Thistle's hopes of securing a vacant slot in the Intertoto Cup and Christie and assistant Donald Park have been drawing up alternative plans for every day of the pre-season once the players return.

These include friendlies against Elgin City, Peterhead, Deveronvale and, in a throw back to the Inverness-Dingwall derbies of years past, a visit by Ross County to Caledonian Stadium on 22nd July. Christie admits he is not a huge fan of pre-season friendlies, but he is looking forward to renewing old rivalries with County in a game he anticipates will provide a stiff test in the week before the new season begins, just as the same meeting did last year.

If not in Europe for the Intertoto Cup, Christie's squad will be making an overseas trip to a training camp in Tuscany as early in July as possible, though the booking will remain provisional until there is a definitive answer regarding the Intertoto Cup.

The players will probably be starting back earlier than ever before and Christie is keen to maintain his predecessor's emphasis on fitness.

"What Craig brought us was an ethos regarding fitness and players looking after their own bodies and that's something we want to continue, " Christie said.

"Craig introduced that and led from the front and we'll not just continue that but try and better it. We've brought in Brian Ewing, a sports scientist at the SFA to try and give us a few ideas." But Christie is also determined to ensure the players enjoy their training rather than regard it as a chore and was delighted to read quotes from some of his team about how much they enjoyed their workouts.

"That's something I'm big on, keeping things bright in training, " Christie stated.