Quote

The Board of Directors at ICT would like to thank the fans for their patience at this difficult time.

Firstly we can confirm the resignation of our Chairman and Board member Ross Morrison. He leaves with our sincere thanks for the dedicated service he has given to the Club and we are indebted to him for his passion, tireless effort and crucial investment in the Club.

We can also announce that our CEO Scot Gardiner has tendered his resignation, which has been accepted by the Board. Scot is now serving his notice and will be continuing to help the Club get through this difficult period.

Following the continued restructuring of the club, including a revised football model and budget to take us into and beyond season 2024/25, the club is pleased to announce the sale of Season Tickets for this coming season from 10 am today, our historic 30th Year Anniversary year, with special thanks to Caley Jag Stewart Coghill for the brilliant 30th Anniversary logo.

While the last few weeks have been difficult for everyone connected to the club, as a Board and as a club, we now respectfully ask the supporters to rally around the team and the management, and a squad which will feature more Inverness and Highland players than we have had for many a long year and if ever we need the fans, it is now. 

The striking new commemorative 30th Anniversary Puma ICT kits will also be revealed over the weekend and with hugely positive discussions currently ongoing with a number of potential new investors, we hope the Caley Jags fans can also rise to the occasion when we need you the most.

Season Tickets will be available on our ticketing website www.eticketing.co.uk/ictfc/ – which is powered by Ticketmaster Sport.  

If you are an existing Season ticket holder we have reserved your existing seats. 

https://ictfc.com/club-statement-2024-25-season-tickets/

 

I will wait to see what is happening with our club and confirmation that Gardiner has left the building before I renew

 

Well THAT Club Statement didn't say an awful lot!

Scott Gardiner still in residence.

We'll have lots of Inverness/Highland-based players this coming season.

Now please cough up and buy your season tickets.

And some Puma gear!

No actual confirmation that we'll be solvent next season. But that's not really any of our business, is it?

 

Yet again we're told nothing, but expected to cough up for season tickets without knowing; if we're entering adminstration, which players have been offered new contracts, which players have left, is the manager being kept on, when is the ceo actually leaving the building, who are these Inverness/Highland based players you mention. . . .  ?

The level of contempt the club has for its fans is unbelievable!

 

1 hour ago, buckett said:

No actual confirmation that we'll be solvent next season. But that's not really any of our business, is it?

I think it’s more the case that there’s not a lot they can say just now whilst discussions and deals are still in progress.

“hugely positive discussions currently ongoing with a number of potential new investors”

I don't think they would be selling season tickets if they did not expect to be solvent, as that would be a serious matter the directors - wrongful trading under the Insolvency Act.

 

Anyone else think that pricing structure is bizarre? Compare to last year's prices. Main stand prices lowered especially over 65s in main stand whilst almost the same for North? 

Lowering the old 16-21 ( formally 16-25) even further looks like SG revenge on Young team to me. 

 

At last a statement. However, in terms of due diligence, I think supporters need some answers before we invest. 

1. Can we see the accounts for 2022/23 please?

2. Who has currently signed for the Club.

3. What is our Management Team?

I would respectfully also ask if a Trust Member will be on the new board even if new owners emerge. 

 

 

Not a detailed statement but I’m just happy that it sounds like we will have a team to support next season 🙏

 

Would I be right in saying that if you did buy a season ticket ( once more detail comes out ) using a credit card then you would be able to get a refund if anything does go t*ts up ? . 

 

1 hour ago, strutty1965 said:

Would I be right in saying that if you did buy a season ticket ( once more detail comes out ) using a credit card then you would be able to get a refund if anything does go t*ts up ? . 

Doubt it . I’ll be holding off for now and see when the ceo resign date is before parting with anything . What a crap statement to put out after all this time 

 

1 hour ago, caley1 said:

Doubt it . I’ll be holding off for now and see when the ceo resign date is before parting with anything . What a crap statement to put out after all this time 

No I think he/she is correct. You are protected if credit card and over £100. 

 

They will take our money for season tickets and then hit us with news that Scott Gardiner staying on in a different role.

 

1 hour ago, old caley girl said:

No I think he/she is correct. You are protected if credit card and over £100. 

Article today regarding similar situation at Reading FC.  Quote below from their supporters trust, STAR.
 

“We recommend that anyone purchasing a season ticket considers using a credit card for added security.

“If, for any reason, the Club cannot fulfil the season ticket, paying by credit card ensures that you would receive a refund (pro rata) under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.”

 

Statement issued by our Supporters Trust asking fans to renew season tickets. They seem to have been able to obtain more information than is in the public domain in arriving at that stance.

Edited June 14, 20241 yr by EvilWhiteStripe

8 minutes ago, ICTPaisley said:

It’s a phygital season ticket this year

Sorted for you 

35 minutes ago, ICTPaisley said:

It’s a digital season ticket this year

*Physical for a fiver extra

Is that Physical or Phygital? 

Mine was loaded onto my existing card by the helpful lady at the club.

29 minutes ago, Jack Waddington said:

*Physical for a fiver extra

That's only for new season ticket holders. No charge for people renewing as last years ticket uploaded for this season.

Mine are loaded on to my existing cards

How much money has SG brought in? Which schemes have worked? Has he paid for his own salary?

Genuine question.

18 minutes ago, Starscape said:

How much money has SG brought in? Which schemes have worked? Has he paid for his own salary?

Genuine question.

Nothing I can think of. No project he's been involved with has been successful that I can recall and by virtually any metric things have deteriorated on and off the pitch over his tenure. Has anything improved since he arrived? Nothing except his business' bank balance and his ego. 

Of course, it's not only Gardiner's incompetence in the mix, others have contributed. 

If you look at Ferguson and Bollan's salaries - Bollan was not actually needed - you can see another big mistake by SG.

 

Approaching Duncan Ferguson, who had just five months of experience at Forest Green Rovers as a full-time manager, and in those months saw him manage 18 games with only a single win and 3 draws, and leaving in July 2023 was incredibly suspect.  

Giving him a three-year contract in Sep 2023, for a reported £5,000 - £7,000 a week according to The Times Newspaper, shows how much blatant disregard the board and CEO had/have for ICT.

The other many failed ventures were rank incompetence and hubris, but the appointment of Ferguson stands out as an appalling act.

Gambler has not made the club money, it is quite the opposite!

1 hour ago, Starscape said:

How much money has SG brought in? Which schemes have worked? Has he paid for his own salary?

Genuine question.

Things he could put on his CV.

- significant cost cutting when he first came in

- £3.4m income from battery farm project which was initially approved by planning but overturned by unusual manoeuvres by the council, but which may still get approved on appeal

- 99% of our interest in the battery farm was apparently then sold for £250,000 - this generating more cash than a year’s worth of season tickets?

- 2 sell out concerts in 2020 would have been very profitable but then Covid hit. That was unlucky.

- further attempt at concerts actually made an unspecified but significant amount money for the club from stadium rental and provision of other services to the concert co

Obviously he wouldn’t mention the negative aspects of these things!

Edited August 5, 20241 yr by Yngwie

12 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Things he could put on his CV.

Only if he was looking for another job! 

No changes any time soon according to the prospective new boss. 

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/ketan-makwana-says-no-changes-at-the-top-for-caley-thistle-u-357528/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

 

18 minutes ago, Fraz said:

No changes any time soon according to the prospective new boss. 

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/ketan-makwana-says-no-changes-at-the-top-for-caley-thistle-u-357528/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

 

No changes until he gets a proper look at the situation does make sense I think. 

 

Back in Europe in 5 years though 👏

This is more concerning to me, the guy clearly doesn’t really understand

28 minutes ago, Fraz said:

No changes any time soon according to the prospective new boss.

Presumably that includes the CEO, and the manager?

33 minutes ago, Fraz said:

No changes any time soon according to the prospective new boss. 

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/ketan-makwana-says-no-changes-at-the-top-for-caley-thistle-u-357528/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

 

Might it not be better if he retained statements like this until after he produces confirmation that he is the legal owner of the 50.48% of the shares that he has pledged to acquire?

Edited August 5, 20241 yr by Charles Bannerman

30 minutes ago, Fraz said:

No changes any time soon according to the prospective new boss. 

Well, no changes before the deal completes. And then he needs to speak to everyone at the club and work out what’s working and what’s not. That might not take long!

49 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Might it not be better if he retained statements like this until after he produces confirmation that he is the legal owner of the 50.48% of the shares that he has pledged to acquire?

I chanced across something today that he wrote about a Yeading and Hayes match.  It was "we" this and "we" that, written as though he was the owner. 

And we all know how that turned out.

1 hour ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Might it not be better if he retained statements like this until after he produces confirmation that he is the legal owner of the 50.48% of the shares that he has pledged to acquire?

Yes, but we’ve had so many moaning on here for him to come out and talk.

9 minutes ago, ICTPaisley said:

Yes, but we’ve had so many moaning on here for him to come out and talk.

Agreed absolutely, and I see what you are saying but, given the scepticism he has created, I would be more comfortable if what he said was based more on providing reassurance and (within the constraints of commercial confidentiality) information about his bid.

21 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

 given the scepticism he has created

He hasn’t created scepticism, people have just chosen to be sceptical! He has done nothing wrong.

37 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

He hasn’t created scepticism, people have just chosen to be sceptical! He has done nothing wrong.

I can’t quite agree there. I think that a guy with his “credentials”, which haven’t been difficult to establish, automatically creates scepticism by even embarking on a project like this, and the manner of some of the statements he has already made have only added to that scope for scepticism.

That said, the way the club has gone about its business of late has created such a lack of public confidence in it that any agreement it came to short of a large, gold plated financial gift would be treated with some degree of scepticism. This latter consideration isn’t, however, created directly by Mr Makwana.

51 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

He has done nothing wrong.

So even if he can't say how much money he will be investing, or where it's coming from - which doesn't instil confidence - surely he can tell us about the other phenomenal developments which (he says) he has been involved in?

From the viewpoint of the ordinary fan, I'd say that he has done nothing right either.

And that's basically what the Companies House records for all his companies suggest.  Nothing really wrong, but nothing right either.

An enigma.

30 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

He hasn’t created scepticism, people have just chosen to be sceptical! He has done nothing wrong.

People are sceptical because nobody, least of all Makwana himself, have come up with any information which suggests he is remotely capable of funding this deal or running a football club.  He seems to be basically a one man band.  

The latest accounts filed with Companies House record Seventy7 Ventures as having an average of just 1 employee - presumably himself.  His longer established business of Enterprise Lab Ltd is listed as having 2 employees with him, as the sole director presumably being one of them.  So, he probably has someone who gives a bit of admin support and that is his business empire!

His businesses all seem to be related to business consultancy, a subject on which he appears to have minimal experience or qualification to provide advice on.  On an admittedly brief Google search, I could find no record of him having been in a senior management role in a company.  His consultancy work seemed to focus on making videos or participating in conferences in ofter obscure places such as Albania.  It would appear that having made a presentation at a conference, he then claims to have provided consultancy services to all the companies that had a member of staff attend.

I don't doubt that he has a fair bit of knowledge around business management theory and, in particular, related to change management, but it comes across as more of a hobby than something he has a record of successful delivery in.  Has he actually worked with companies on detailed projects of change management and documented how he produced positive change?  If he has, I didn't find any evidence of it.  If anybody has found any evidence that there is any substance behind the change management buzzwords, please share.

 

11 hours ago, Yngwie said:

- 2 sell out concerts in 2020 would have been very profitable but then Covid hit. That was unlucky.

It could be argued that he was lucky Covid reduced the sale of tickets.  There was a total lack of communication between those running the concerts and those delivering them.  It was only after tickets were sold that the Concert Company and the Club realised the size of the stage that would be used.  As a result, people who were sat in the 2 most westerly sections in both the North and South stands had to be allocated new seats because otherwise they would have seen nothing of the performers.  I believe folk affected were only informed of this when they arrived at the stadium.  As it was, folk in the middle of the 2 stands only got a partial view of the stage and numerous people wrote to complain and seek a refund because of the restricted view. (They got no reply).  In addition, such was the height of the stage that those in premium seats at the front also had a very restricted view.  Many moved back to cheaper seats to get a better view.

What would have happened had the concerts been sold out doesn't bear thinking about.