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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, 20241 yr by The Mantis

"We were running far too rich and we have been losing far too much money".

Who is the "we" here?  Not the fans.  No fan demanded huge salaries for two current figures who were abject failures at their previous jobs.  No fan wanted rafts of loanees housed in hotels. Thus, the "we" is those who hired Gardiner, Ferguson instead of going with other options without a cost (promote a coach, promote a staff member) which, given the state of things, wouldn't have been any worse (and likely would have been better).

"I can’t put in any more money, the other directors can’t put any more money in so we have had to cut out costs"

Sjálfbærni, Durabilitate, Тогтвортой байдал...or in English, 'sustainability':  did it never cross your mind - or Mr Rae's - to be more sustainable, at all, since 2017.  It was much easier to gamble big, until painted into corner, than be custodians, audit and carefully balance the books line by line and generate multiple, local, revenue streams to live within means.  

Well, if the supporters don’t support the club then the club goes out of business.

If Season ticket money is so pivotal, when did spending it (and much more than just 'it') like Babylonian Kings on the likes of Yvonne Crook, Scot, Robbo, Dodds, Duncan, hotels for several loanees, accommodation and generous benefits, so many contributions all leading to relegation to the third tier of Scottish football. 

This move (and the Mad-hattery Farm 250k) does seems like life-support to avoid the club going belly up before the directors can extract their investments. 

The allure of Gardiner is clear - tasked by Morrison et al. to get them their money back before it goes bust, like a bailiff.  

TL;DR 'Not fit and proper since 2017'

57 minutes ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Surely making Ferguson, Bolan and Gardiner redundant would not be that expensive? Restructuring the club changes roles which can necessitate redundancy.

You can't make the manager redundant, I assume we are still going to need one of those.

Couple of things:

It seems obvious now that the chairman is only here to try and recoup most of the £1m+ funds he's put in to the club. There is only one asset left to strip and that's the lease of the land the stadium sits on. Is, ultimately, putting the lease up for sale the last action of a man who says he wants the best for the club?

The club's board have, literally, moved the goalposts on giving the Supporters Trust a seat on said board, making it nigh on impossible now. If they really have the interests of the club at heart, why would they do this? They are behaving like it's a private members club, like a secret society! ICT is not theirs, it belongs to the community - its fans!

39 minutes ago, ictchris said:

You can't make the manager redundant, I assume we are still going to need one of those.

You technically can.

The new role would need to have a different job description and job title. Possibly the merger of two roles, or the splitting of one role. It would be shady, and if it happened in my work place I would not be particularly pleased that it was being done as a way to remove someone outside of their contract, but it can still be done.

So in light of all the talk of change at the club, and the discussions over the training decision, I was wondering how I would like to see the club in the future, and how I would envisage it. Very much back of a napkin ideas, but this would be roughly where I would land;

• Representation of the Fans on the board, with as high a holding in club making decisions as possible
• Retention of training facilities in and around the Inverness area
• Club offices, etc... in Inverness
• Removal of the North and South stand seating and a return to the terracing of old
  • A section of the main stand can be reserved for away fans who are not capable of standing throughout an entire match
• Opening of the West Stand terracing (purely because that was my spot pre-SPL days and I miss it)
• Partnership with County, Clach in terms of youth football and developing the young talent of Highlands and Moray
  • With "regional" summer football camps (Aviemore, Fort William, Thurso, Nairn, Elgin etc... etc...)
  • Partnership with locals schools in an agreed catchment area to provide assisted training, match day experiences, cup competitions that culminate in a final played at the stadium
• A retention of the Womans Football Team
• There will be no requirement for players / coaches to live in the area
  • I've never been a fan of the Cantera policy, and definitely don't think this should apply to ICT
• Investigation and open discussion over switching the pitch from grass to synthetic

Pre season training can only be a few weeks away. Nothing heard so far about players being retained or new players brought in. It will be interesting to see the calibre of player the new set up in Fife can attract! Given the uproar and press and TV coverage, who would want to commit to this club in decline !!!! 

3 minutes ago, CaleyCiuin said:

Pre season training can only be a few weeks away. Nothing heard so far about players being retained or new players brought in. It will be interesting to see the calibre of player the new set up in Fife can attract! Given the uproar and press and TV coverage, who would want to commit to this club in decline !!!! 

There will be players out there who don't have a contract, who need to get a contract to continue to be able to support their family, who will join.

2 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

There will be players out there who don't have a contract, who need to get a contract to continue to be able to support their family, who will join.

Does anyone know if the current owners are attempting to sell the club to recoup their investments?

30 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

There will be players out there who don't have a contract, who need to get a contract to continue to be able to support their family, who will join.

I’m sure there are, but you would have to ask why they don’t have a contract. If this move is designed to attract a higher calibre player……. Who and where are they?

9 minutes ago, CaleyCiuin said:

I’m sure there are, but you would have to ask why they don’t have a contract. If this move is designed to attract a higher calibre player……. Who and where are they?

 I guess there are multiple reasons why they don't have a contract. Maybe they didn't fit with the club they were at, maybe the club needed to let them go to cut costs, maybe they just didn't like the club they were playing at.

Many reasons why.

We are now a League One club, the quality of player that we will be able to attract will now be different to the type of player that we could attract as a Championship club. As fans, we need to adjust to that.

It's worth looking at "what success looks like" under this "plan"

• ICT compete fully with Livingston, Raith, Queen's Park, Morton etc. for getting central belt-based players in
• There are no more players recruited who need accommodation (England, Aberdeen, County-based)
• The club is financially viable as a going concern 
• The players are very happy (Chairman's words)
• Promotion from League One
• Promotion from Championship

The risks are all too obvious.  

Why would a solid central belt-based Championship-level (FT) player choose ICT over other FT clubs? (much more travelling and getting back home on a Sat at 10pm Sat/Tue at 2am from a home game, artificial pitches, playing PT players, a club financially on knees) unless the salary ICT pay is much higher than other Championship clubs, which is very questionable given the state of things.

Will it end up being gambles on very young players, and very old players, released from Premiership/Championship teams?  That will mean the managing, coaching and tactics will need to be Pele level.  There's not been sign of it. 

If the month of June does not see recruitment which looks like success is on the cards - then alles kaput

54 minutes ago, TBone said:

Does anyone know if the current owners are attempting to sell the club to recoup their investments?

It doesn’t quite work that way with Caley Thistle. Nobody owns more than about 15% of the club and it would, for instance, require at least five parties, some of whom have a history of being at odds, to pull together 50% of the voting rights. I also see no way that anyone could sell anything to recoup their investments because the club is virtually worthless apart from the 70 years or so of lease left on the stadium site and the structures on it… whatever the market value of a football stadium is. The point being made by Allan MacKenzie (former Vice Chairman and commercial lawyer) at last night’s meeting was that if the club went into administration, the administrator could retain or dispose of things like contracts (including Kelty) and staff and pull together a new board, at which point major shareholders may feel more inclined to make what would be far safer further investment. However I believe that admin would have to be the decision of the current board… unless creditor could enforce it?

29 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

 I guess there are multiple reasons why they don't have a contract. Maybe they didn't fit with the club they were at, maybe the club needed to let them go to cut costs, maybe they just didn't like the club they were playing at.

Many reasons why.

We are now a League One club, the quality of player that we will be able to attract will now be different to the type of player that we could attract as a Championship club. As fans, we need to adjust to that.

You are just stating the obvious. Just like the club……… no answers!

Many thanks for that accurate analysis. It's a shame they can't come together to exit the scene as there are buyers around & the club is not entirely worthless. It seems the only way out is sell or admin.

4 minutes ago, CaleyCiuin said:

You are just stating the obvious. Just like the club……… no answers!

You asked me a question and I answered. What more do you want? It isn't my job to come up with answers as why players aren't under contract so wind your neck in.

Kelty don't own the pitch they are going to rent us

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/exclusive-kelty-hearts-don-t-own-pitch-earmarked-for-caley-351962/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

You have to laugh.

3 hours ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

So in light of all the talk of change at the club, and the discussions over the training decision, I was wondering how I would like to see the club in the future, and how I would envisage it. Very much back of a napkin ideas, but this would be roughly where I would land;

• Representation of the Fans on the board, with as high a holding in club making decisions as possible
• Retention of training facilities in and around the Inverness area
• Club offices, etc... in Inverness
• Removal of the North and South stand seating and a return to the terracing of old
  • A section of the main stand can be reserved for away fans who are not capable of standing throughout an entire match
• Opening of the West Stand terracing (purely because that was my spot pre-SPL days and I miss it)
• Partnership with County, Clach in terms of youth football and developing the young talent of Highlands and Moray
  • With "regional" summer football camps (Aviemore, Fort William, Thurso, Nairn, Elgin etc... etc...)
  • Partnership with locals schools in an agreed catchment area to provide assisted training, match day experiences, cup competitions that culminate in a final played at the stadium
• A retention of the Womans Football Team
• There will be no requirement for players / coaches to live in the area
  • I've never been a fan of the Cantera policy, and definitely don't think this should apply to ICT
• Investigation and open discussion over switching the pitch from grass to synthetic

Throw increased advertising (buses, banners, radio (one wee Highland League-esque board next to the A9 isn't anywhere near enough)), a shop in the city center (Victorian Market or the (assuming they get a shift on) New Transport Hub, and start giving out tickets to local schools into the mix. The club needs to get a shift on, both within the club and improving city center presence

45 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

You asked me a question and I answered. What more do you want? It isn't my job to come up with answers as why players aren't under contract so wind your neck in.

Hahahaaaa ya muppet !!! You stated Many reasons why, then failed to list any! Are you Gardiner in disguise 🤪🤪🤪

Edited May 29, 20241 yr by CaleyCiuin

6 minutes ago, CaleyCiuin said:

Hahahaaaa ya muppet !!! You stated Many reasons why, then failed to list any! Are you Gardiner in disguise 🤪🤪🤪

What are you actually on about?

Why are available players not under contract?

Reason 1: Maybe they didn't fit with the club they were at

Reason 2: Maybe the club they were at needed to cut costs so had to let them go

Reason 3: Maybe they didn't like the club

Reasons, as said in my original answer. Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean it's not an answer. Now **** off.

Good to see Scott's made a pig's ear of yet another hare-brained business venture. Another abject failure from our hapless CEO. 🤣

Edited May 29, 20241 yr by ymip

21 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Kelty don't own the pitch they are going to rent us

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/exclusive-kelty-hearts-don-t-own-pitch-earmarked-for-caley-351962/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

You have to laugh.

What an absolute shambles of a situation this is. We’re an absolute laughing stock and a complete embarrassment. 

How could this be released without it being absolutely watertight?

5 minutes ago, EvilWhiteStripe said:

What are you actually on about?

Why are available players not under contract?

Reason 1: Maybe they didn't fit with the club they were at

Reason 2: Maybe the club they were at needed to cut costs so had to let them go

Reason 3: Maybe they didn't like the club

Reasons, as said in my original answer. Just because you didn't like it doesn't mean it's not an answer. Now **** off.

Thanks Scot, very insightful. 🙂

Just now, CaleyCiuin said:

Thanks Scot, very insightful. 🙂

Scot who?

27 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Kelty don't own the pitch they are going to rent us

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/exclusive-kelty-hearts-don-t-own-pitch-earmarked-for-caley-351962/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

You have to laugh.

Would be a shame if someone block booked the facility for the next few months before our deal is signed.

So Fife Council own the pitch that we have rented from Kelty.