It is a relationship which extends back to a spell together at Hibernian and that could now reach as far as the Highlands.

John Hughes has been the Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager for a little over a month now and he is beginning to make the job his own, identifying Russell Latapy as his preferred choice for an assistant. The pair played together at Easter Road and Falkirk, with Latapy made aware of the chance to team up again in management when Hughes approached him at a coaching course.

Latapy - a former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder, whose career in Scotland includes spells at Rangers, Dundee United and Edinburgh City - has been coaching at Portuguese side Boavista latterly. It is understood the 45-year-old will be in the dugout alongside Hughes for the league match against Aberdeen on 18 January.

"Russell is my No.1 target," said Hughes. "He is working at Boavista in Portugal but is in Scotland at the moment doing his pro licence. He is a great guy with great experience and, if he can pass that on to the players here at Inverness, it would be fantastic."

A chat about Latapy allowed the Inverness manager to be wistful, although he was already part of the way down memory lane since a match with Dundee United on Sunday will let Hughes renew his friendship with Jackie McNamara. The pair signed for Celtic on the same day in 1995 and will now compete against one another as managers, although Hughes has long harboured a desire to challenge his younger friend.

"Jackie and Simon [Donnelly, now United assistant manager] used to nutmeg me in training every single day at Celtic - they used to take turns tormenting me," said Hughes, who confirmed that captain Richie Foran has resumed light training. "I would have kicked them but I couldn't get near them. Although Jackie was right-back, he could play right wing. He and Simon got on great. It took me a while to settle at Celtic but Jackie just arrived and off he went."