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Club Statement

As one major part of our planned strategic restructure of the club, ICTFC are delighted to announce an innovative agreement with League 1 side Kelty Hearts which will see the club move our training base to the Fife club’s New Central Park Stadium.

This creative partnership will mean that we will hire their excellent facilities which include a 3g pitch, onsite grass pitches and offices for our coaching staff, as our training base during the week starting from this coming pre-season in June.

The last few years have seen the geographic challenges in getting players to move to the Highlands become ever harder for a number of reasons.

Caledonian Stadium will always be our home, but other factors in Scottish football have changed and where we train should not be an impediment to the quality of the players we can attract to Caley Thistle, or to our potential to progress.

The commercial success of the city of Inverness – which will always be our home - both as a tourist destination and a place to live, has led to very high prices for the accommodation we require to house players. In addition to these high costs which our competitors do not carry, the extremely limited housing stock in Inverness continues to be both a challenge and a huge factor working against us.

Increased playing budgets in and around the central belt has meant that on many occasions, even when we have offered players more favourable terms than our competitors, sometimes even agreed deals, we have then been told that the player has changed his mind due to challenges relocating their families. Support structures in and around the families of players may all be in and around the central belt, partners will have jobs where they live and moving kids schools to the Highlands and moving home itself can just be seen as impractical for a one or two year contract.

It makes it particularly challenging for us to sign senior players, a category which through no fault of our budget, or of previous ICT Managers, we have struggled to attract in the last few seasons.

Similarly, our location means that we miss out on the opportunity of signing promising players from the larger clubs in Scotland, on loan or otherwise.

For the avoidance of any doubt we absolutely intend to continue to develop our own homegrown Highland boys and we will take the appropriate steps to make sure that by being creative, innovative and practical, they do not miss out on the chance to have a pathway to first team football with their team. We have a proud tradition of introducing local players in to our first team and this will absolutely continue.

We obviously never intended to be in the same division as Kelty when originally exploring this concept, but football throws strange things at you sometimes and having reassessed the proposition and judged that the pros still far outweigh the cons, we would like to thank the Board of Kelty Hearts and MD Stefan Winiarski and his management team for considering this unique to the SPFL partnership, and then seeing and agreeing on the possibilities and benefits for both clubs.

To reiterate, by moving our footballing department's training base to central Scotland, both the club's Board of Directors and the club's First Team Management feel we give ourselves the best possible chance to attract the highest quality players to the club, allowing some of the players we sign to also live in and around the central belt while playing for ICTFC.

We now look forward to taking further positive strides on and off the pitch to address the football and financial challenges we face we believe this exciting opportunity to help us attract players previously not available to us and build a better squad, is one of the first steps we can make and we hope to develop further innovative partnerships.

Inverness is and will always be our home.

The Caledonian Stadium will always be where we play our football. We hope this venture will help us achieve our goal in giving our supporters a team to be proud of.

Edited May 24, 20242 yr by The Mantis

I have to doff my cap to the board in their ability to deliver a situation so utterly tone deaf and absurd that I find myself in violent agreement with Mr Bannerman for the first time in 30 years.  Quite an achievement.

What does this mean for our youth academy?  Lots of hints that this was going, is it?

What does it mean for the Hub at the IRA that we are apparently part of?  Is that offski?

 

I think that this will fall apart and the club will go into administration this close season to be honest.

6 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

Kilmarnock used to train in Glasgow as well (not sure if they still do).

I’m not saying I support this decision, but this isn’t as abnormal as some think. 

A thirty minute drive along a motorway compared to a two and a half hour drive down the A9. 

Brilliant idea!!

Why not take it a step further though, and come to a ground-sharing deal with Kelty.

Then we can play all our home games in the Central Belt, and the away games won't be too far away, keeping costs down.

Might be difficult for Inverness based fans though, but what do they matter!

 

Possible light at the end of the tunnel (albeit a very small one)

Well - Dougal has been right all along !! What happened to fans being consulted ? This has to be by far the worst act carried out and that is saying something. But what can we do about it ?

4 minutes ago, Stephen Malkmus said:

A thirty minute drive along a motorway compared to a two and a half hour drive down the A9. 

Sure, but that’s missing my point. The idea of having a training area away from the area where the team plays isn’t new, nor is it abnormal.

We would all obviously rather that this hadn’t happened (or at least they would have picked somewhere better or closer if they wanted to do this), but the idea isn’t new.

Presumably they would have considered St Johnstone first who are slightly closer and have great facilities for grass and Astro next to the stadium, but they are full time and therefore using it when we’d want to.

Is there any apparent difference between the travel between Killie and Glesga and Sneak and Kelty ?

Just now, Yngwie said:

Presumably they would have considered St Johnstone first who are slightly closer and have great facilities for grass and Astro next to the stadium, but they are full time and therefore using it when we’d want to.

Perth was one of the places I actually thought of. But I also assume, alongside your points, cost is also a factor for using their facilities.

 

7 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

Sure, but that’s missing my point. The idea of having a training area away from the area where the team plays isn’t new, nor is it abnormal.

We would all obviously rather that this hadn’t happened (or at least they would have picked somewhere better or closer if they wanted to do this), but the idea isn’t new.

We literally have that right now. The team plays at TCS and trains at Fort George. For some inexplicable reason we're increasing that distance.

Why on earth have we never made more use of the Highland Football Academy?

Not sure how the plan works for those settled in Inverness, hoping they get relocation and arent just jettisoned. The opportunity to have a larger pool of talent at better cost base is logical and hopefully it is done right.

Not sure the proposal of giving money to competitors is great or that we spent money on facilities in Inverness that we dont and have no plans to use, but its maybe going to work out.

Having the team train locally doesnt actually make any difference at all. 

4 minutes ago, RiG said:

We literally have that right now. The team plays at TCS and trains at Fort George. For some inexplicable reason we're increasing that distance.

Why on earth have we never made more use of the Highland Football Academy?

The reason isn’t inexplicable. You (and pretty much everyone) just don’t agree with the reason that is stated. 

We’ve clearly already signed a contract with Kelty, so even if the decision somehow gets reversed I presume we’d still have to pay for their facilities for however many years we got commitment for.

Having the team train locally saves them having to travel 135 miles there and back for home games...essentially turning all their matches into away games (except for the new derbies with Kelty, of course). 

Bye, Bye stadium and a ground share or playing games at Clach?

Over the last couple of weeks, my favourite expletive seems to have become the word 'Horsesh*t" and this falls into the biggest pile of it I have seen. ever. 

How do we get enough people or voting percentage together to force an EGM?
This cannot be allowed to happen. It will kill the club completely. Supporters Trust? 

I thought Gardiner could not top his previous debacles .. Pixellot, the Concert, alienating staff, players and supporters, not to mention relegation but f*ck me, I underestimated the man. This puts a cherry on top of the whole fu*king lot, a really huge feckin' cherry! 

 

1 hour ago, Yngwie said:

This is quite a shock, and it’s a very sad day that it has come to this.

I can however see the reasoning. We need to reduce costs and we must spend a huge sum on houses for players, a cost that our competitors don’t face, putting us at an immediate disadvantage. We just can’t afford it any more if we want to live within our means.  For many years, our managers have made the point about hard it is to attract players north, it’s simply a fact that we struggle to attract and retain players that our competitors can get. Think of all the ones we have lost because of our location, this season alone before you even go back through our history, and there must be a very very lengthy long of good players we could have had if they didn’t have to move north.  Not saying it’s the right thing to do and I’m still in shock about it, but I can at least see why the club feel the need to address the problem at a time when we can no longer pay over the odds and pay for housing to overcome the geographical disadvantage that we have always faced.

Funny how, for the most part, the players that end up staying in the area after their careers wind down came up not from Scotland, but from England. The central-belters, for the most part head back down the A9 to Glasgow/Edinburgh or some commuter belt outside of those cities.  We are only 1 hour from London or Manchester by air and I bet there are plenty of hungry players down there who would not whine about the A9 as much (other than on match days). Hop on EasyJet and its all sorted.  Happy to have another David Raven, Carl Tremarco, or Gary Warren out of that kind of scenario. 

To me its all about the sell-job. We may be a career club for some players (Tokely for example), but for others, who clearly won't make this their long-term club, we have previously used it, and should continue to use it, as an opportunity to sell the player on getting a career back on track or putting themselves in the shop window to get a move. Even if that move is (currently) to a higher league team across the Black Isle where they would not even need to move again. If they don't want to come here, then they don't want to come here, its that simple. Geography is simply an excuse. Look all over the rest of the world and a 140-mile relocation in some countries or for some clubs is called a commute!   

As for accommodation costs ... why are we paying these? My employer doesn't pay my mortgage, not directly at least, but they do pay me enough so I can afford it. Its my responsibility to get a house in a location I can afford that allows me to get to work to earn my wage. Back in the days when we were in the third tier before, players like Bobby Mann came to the club and literally stayed in B&Bs whose owners had an affiliation to the club and no doubt gave them a deal for a long-term rental. That may be an avenue to explore again. The bigger problem is that we are no longer in the Premiership or even the league below, we are now back down in the doldrums so attracting any player, regardless of where we train will be exponentially more difficult. 

Don't forget there will also be added costs. Presumably all the first team players (including young players in the squad) who currently live in Inverness and have houses will need to be brought down to Fife and either stay for the week for training or travel back on a daily basis? The first will cost money, the second is unsustainable. What about the youth players? How do they fare in this. Will they be brought to Fife or will they - as suspected in some circles - be abandoned and put an end to our youth system. How will players travel to Inverness for home games? In their own cars and claiming travel expenses and maybe a night in a hotel the night before? or will we hire a bus at considerable cost to get to our home-away game thereby doubling our transportation costs for the year. 

I could probably rant on for pages but I will stop here. This has got me more raging than the relegation so well done Gardiner. Now Get the F*ck out out of our club and take your cronies with you !!!

Utter Horseshit!!! 

 

39 minutes ago, RiG said:

Weird how all those years we spent working our way up the leagues, into the SPL, winning the Scottish Cup and finishing third we weren't affected by house prices in Inverness or geography. Yet now we need to do something you'd see in the NFL and move the team hundreds of miles away from their origin. Utterly laughable.

This cannot be allowed to happen. 

As others have said ... how can we be a community club when we are not even in the community on a day-to-day basis? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hamilton is just over an hour up the motorway for Q.O.S and so, whilst not ideal, is very doable for a there and back in a day on a fairly regular basis.  Inverness to Kelty is more than twice that time.  Not great for a winter commute - especially with the hold ups with all the work going on to dual the A9!  On the plus side, it will be handy for the Chairman to pop by from time to time to see how the guys are getting on.

6 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

The reason isn’t inexplicable. You (and pretty much everyone) just don’t agree with the reason that is stated. 

You think having the location for training 135 miles away from where the team is predominantly located isn't inexplicable? Interesting.

It certainly wasn't needed for the last 20 odd years whilst we were doing well in the leagues yet now it's some kind of silver bullet to right our wrongs? Doubt it.

4 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Bye, Bye stadium and a ground share or playing games at Clach?

Why - we dont train at the stadium and it'll still be used for home games.

 

39 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Some fans making the point on P&B that many more remote clubs train far away from their home base - Queen of the South train in Hamilton, Stranraer train in Glasgow, the Angus clubs mainly train in Edinburgh.

Major difference here is the distance - Kelty is more than twice as far away from inverness as any of those clubs and the fact that this is a wholesale relocation of the football side of our club to a rival.  Also, and no disrepect to any of those places and clubs, but we haven't had to do this before because Inverness is a bigger city than those places and we have had more success than any of them.  We aspire to be in the top flight, we spent 15 years there.  

That’s an interesting set of clubs you’ve come up with there. Stranraer, Queen of the South… and presumably the Angus clubs would be the likes of Arbroath, Forfar, Brechin and Montrose. Not exactly a litany of recent success.

3 minutes ago, RiG said:

You think having the location for training 135 miles away from where the team is predominantly located isn't inexplicable? Interesting.

It certainly wasn't needed for the last 20 odd years whilst we were doing well in the leagues yet now it's some kind of silver bullet to right our wrongs? Doubt it.

The reason why they are moving is to attempt to attract talent that won’t move to Inverness.

Thats the reason. They’ve been quite clear on that. I don’t agree with it, you don’t agree with it, clearly a lot of people don’t agree with it. But it’s a very clear reason why they are doing this.

Absolute shocker!  Kelty Caley Thistle and Kelty Hearts.  Who knew Kelty could be a two team town!  It's no longer ICT - it's like Barcelona, based in Barcelona, going off to play league games in the US.  ICT, based in Kelty, gracing us every other week with a game in Inverness.  We'll be another Elgin City - full of central belt journeymen with no affinity to Inverness or the area.  No identity = no playing for the shirt (not that we really did that in the saeson just gone, to be fair!).  Why should I carry on supporting Caley?  Do Wimbledon fans of old support MK Dons?

The club has lost its home, community, fans, the plot.  Let's get behind Clach and have them up in the Scottish league as Inverness' team while Caley fight relegation to the Highland League...

I still can't believe what I have just read from the chairman. Is he living in different world from the rest of us? I have been a season ticket holder for many years but if this farcical situation is allowed to go ahead then I will definitely not be renewing

 

This looks very like a f***k you decision made by Morrison and all his cronies. This is not a football decision there must be more to it than that.

Scandalous they can even contemplate that this idea 

No more Ryan Christie's , Polworths, Hastings etc only the dregs of the central belt.