Pressley is their shock choice to replace Christie at Caley

Sportsmail has learned the 33-year-old has been lined up as a potential successor to Charlie Christie, who stepped down yesterday after falling victim to the stress of managing his hometown club.

Inverness have previously enjoyed success appointing rookie managers like John Robertson and Craig Brewster. The club also once made an audacious approach to land Rangers legend Ally McCoist.

It is understood Caley will seek to make contact with Pressley today to ascertain whether he could be lured north in a player-manager capacity.

The experienced former Hearts captain is under contract until next May but has yet to feature for the Hoops this season.

Last night, it was also confirmed that he had pulled out of the Scotland squad for tomorrow's match against South Africa at Pittodrie.

Former managers Robertson and Brewster have both been in touch to register their interest and are also amongst the leading candidates, while the club refused to rule out the prospect of a return for another former boss Steve Paterson, now manager at Peterhead.

Robertson is thought to be Christie's preferred successor after his sterling work in guiding Caley Thistle into the SPL with a First Division title and Bell's Cup double in 2004.

He was recently appointed manager at Derry City in Ireland but is believed to have a clause in his contract allowing him to move should a bigger club make an approach.

Brewster is also keen on retracing his footsteps back to the Highlands after a disastrous spell in charge of Dundee United.

On Sunday, the veteran striker became the SPL's oldest scorer when, at 40 years of age, he netted in Aberdeen's defeat by Celtic. He, too, is thought to have a release clause in his contract.

Last night, Caley Thistle director of football Graeme Bennett refused to rule any of the former managers out of the race to replace Christie.

He said: "We're conscious of the transfer window closing. We won't set targets but the preference is for sooner, rather than later. We have to look at the whole picture before making a choice, so I wouldn't rule anybody out at this stage.

"We've always had the strategy of going for a young manager. Do we change that? I don't know. We'll decide on Wednesday when we chat as a board and get a steer as to which route we want to go down.

"That may or may not take in some of our old managers. I'm open-minded."

Bennett, meanwhile, admitted he was 'shocked' by Christie's sudden decision to step down.

"This is certainly not one of those supposed 'mutual consent' resignations," he said. "The first I knew was over the weekend when Charlie told me the stress was becoming far worse than he had expected.

"He felt that, in fairness to his wife and family, he needed to step down. His resignation has nothing to do with results as we are traditionally slow starters.

"It has everything to do with his own peace of mind and, already, I can see a weight coming off his shoulders."

Coaches Donald Park and John Docherty will be in charge for Saturday's visit of Dundee United.