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Just to let you all know that Eric Davidson (ictewd) passed away this morning 1st March 2023. He was admitted to the hospice on Friday and he said "at least I will get WiFi in there and will try and do team lines etc as it will give me something to do". Unfortunately he was unable to manage anything and passed away this morning. Eric was a keen follower of rugby in his younger days and would have been a regular at the Barrel Vault. Eric was not a prolific poster on here, but did a tremendous amount of work in the background. He was a quiet unassuming man and after joining BT he did some studying to make his way to being a precision tester at BT, and a good friend since the 70's and along with Iain (IBM) has been working behind the scenes to help keep the site stats ticking over. Typical of Eric, he was happy to work in the background whilst others would get the glory and went about his CTO business in a dilligent and professional manner. I will miss him greatly for his contributions on here, probably unnoticed by many. More importantly, he will missed by all who knew him. Condolences to all friends and family, especially his wife Anne. x

Am I alone in being a bit taken aback that the Board have been heavily criticised by some fans for not being communicative but now that they have they are being criticised for not being totally clear. Is any type of business likely to bear all. The plans are now out in the open and they’re to be quoted if they go awry. To me they are also saying that we are safe for another season but suggesting that it is a defining season. It has been evident for some time that there would be no management changes until the close of this season. That structure needs to be changed and that ties in individuals and financial outputs. They are also not going to release up to date financial information as it is not clear. what we should be doing is filling the ground for the Killie game and making a menacing atmosphere. Then we have another great day out and put much needed spondoolicks into the coffers. And are the excuses of depreciating away supports and wages to injured players acceptable ? I am resigned to getting this season over - preferably with a bit of a bang - but pressuring the Board if the expected and needed changes and improvements are not forthcoming. There a number of “true” ICT people in the mix and they also have to start making waves which I believe may have already begun. Watch this space !!

And it doesn’t even quantify/admit to the magnitude of the losses. I find it bizarre that after external parties made this company’s losses public, the company itself completely fails to acknowledge their existence in a prepared statement. There seems to be much enthusiasm for highlighting links with property management companies and Freeports and Battery Farms when the relevant questions must surely be: “How confident are you that these projects are going to be any more fruitful than the Concert Company?” and “On that subject, what are the implications for the football club of the Concert Company’s collapse?” and “What is the club’s current financial status as opposed to nine months ago as in these accounts, which also pre-date the demise of the Concert Company?” and “What have you been doing for cash flow in recent months?”

Spot on NJ. I find the minimalism associated with this whole affair very unacceptable. The excerpts from the accounts don’t even give profit and loss and to find the loss you have to scour the notes. This also means that there’s no indication of the vital parameter of turnover, which hence also prevents anyone from working out what the loss is as a percentage of expenditure or turnover which I think is quite important. Then there’s today’s verbose statement which is most notable for its attempts to create a smokescreen obscuring what really matters. I am absolutely astonished that a statement made on behalf of the Chairman 24 hours after the account details have leaked out via parties unconnected with the club should fail even to have an acknowledgement of how big the loss is. The statement failed to take ownership of extremely adverse circumstances which, as I write, the club itself has not yet acknowledged. And then there’s the first revelation of the date of the overdue AGM which appears incidentally to something else, and half way through this wordy statement. This doesn’t exactly make it very easy to obtain information about what’s clearly a critical situation.

That's a very welcome, albeit overdue, statement. Good to know that there is now an AGM scheduled at last. The devil is in the detail as always, and at the moment there seems to be a reliance on optimism that various initiatives will bring in much needed cash, rather than any form of assurance that they will. Interesting to note the comments about the disappointments of this season being dealt with internally. Also disappointing that whilst the Chairman makes several references to the wonderful and loyal fans, there is nothing in the statement to indicate any desire to engage with them.

I've already put this up on Twitter, but it feels like someone turned up at the stadium and told the board "I've sold battery farms to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook and by gum it put them on the map!"

That’s good. I was impressed when I met him a couple of times and he got all the advertising boards sold, which hopefully has helped the next set of accounts a bit. I felt it harsh that he seemed to be the fall guy for the concert debacle rather than those who got us into the mess in the first place. He was also a very good hospitality host so can hopefully rebuild that side of things too.

Our game that was originally on 11 March is now on 11 April. Depending on the next few weeks, it could be a relegation tussle.

I did not know Eric, but ever since TM4TJ brought him and IBM on to help with the stats and other background tasks, it has been great. His input and effort getting us up to date, was immense even though he was unwell. It speaks volumes about someone's character when they offer to do this type of unsung work and are happy to stay in the background and just offer assistance without any fanfare. I am also absolutely blown away that in the midst of his illness, he was still thinking of doing updates from the hospice. My sincere gratitude goes to Eric for all he did, and my condolences go out to his family and friends in their sad loss.

Or outwith ‘trust us’ words, any details or timescale on these enterprise zone, battery farm, exciting opportunities etc on how to deliver them is missing. I understand the frustration of the fans here, (I have to mention how pleased I am at the level of intelligent comment presented on the forum ), however we will get through it (albeit we may have to restart after administration). The simple solution and answer of course lays on the football pitch. Get a winning team and the agony we are experiencing dissipates. SG becomes a background figure again! Trouble is the team lack the leadership, and dare I say it now, the long term player commitment, to play to their real potential. SG and the board stuck with BD and we are now down to hoping luck carries us through the cup and remaining league games. Problem is you can’t run a company’s finances simply on that alone!!

The supporters deserve and need unabbreviated accounts, too much is shady in what has been published. Smearing the actualities with club statements and an AGM simply won’t cut it.

The Club has now also posted its Confirmation Statement on the Companies House website. This list all the shareholders together with the number of shares they hold.

Have faith guys! Once the battery farm is done, the concert monies taken, the freeport established, hospitality opened, the West Stand roofed, the community facilities completed, the monorail built and the injured players back we will be a force to be reckoned with in Scottish Football once again! ️ #InGardinerWeTrust

Yes, I know it’s been a very long time since I’ve posted on here…life has taken a few different directions, but I did remember my password! What’s prompted me to post now is this extremely articulate and very well informed thread on a topic I’ve followed with great interest since even before the club existed as a supporter, a journalist and for the last 26 years, a shareholder as well - its finances. Moving on from that rather lengthy reintroduction, I must say that I’m rather astonished that today’s lengthy club statement of around 800 words makes no admission whatsoever of the specifics of what’s looking like an ever deepening financial crisis, as revealed yesterday by external parties. Headline items here include losses increasing 3.5 fold to £835K… deeper in hock to HMRC and trade creditors… 64% fall in net assets, large increase in staff to 92 and the auditors slapping a “going concern” notice on the accounts. These details were only revealed through Companies House yesterday, the company’s deadline for filing there, and picked up by the media… all before shareholders and supporters have been told by the club. And this information vacuum, given the absence of any financial detail in that statement, remains the case unless a calling notice is on its way for an AGM which, according to the company’s articles of association, became overdue on 21st December last year.(EDIT - AGM now called for 28.3.22.) There has been such a delay with these accounts that the information they contain is now nine months out of date, which is a long time when financial fortunes are in freefall. Has the situation got even worse? In 2021 we were told that concerts were going to be the financial Messiah… and then the concert company collapsed. What are the implications of that, because even though the Concertco was a legally separate company from the FC, although both its directors were also FC directors, there must be reputational and other issues to consider and other apsects to scrutinise. And what are the specifics of these “land” arrangements and “battery farm”? Someone in an earlier post (and it’s great to see so many of the “usual suspects” of years gone by still contributing magnificently on this forum!) suggested that ICT hasn’t had a boost from benefactors like Ross County. I’m not sure if I totally agree with that and would start with Ian Fraser’s £330K in 1996 and continue through a multi-faceted £3-ish million from Tullochs, several hundred thousand from Muirfield Mills, part of a million in new capital that appeared during 2018-19 etc etc. Then there’s goodness know a how much in loans and donations just to keep the club solvent and it’s all gone simply to sustain a long term underlying loss situation. This club has therefore had substantial external assistance but still finds itself in the financial plight described in these nine month old accounts…. or possibly worse. However any insight provided to fans, shareholders etc has been very limited. Meanwhile one major current issue is why (EDIT now called for 28.3.23.) is why the deadline was so lengthily missed for an AGM where shareholders can require the board to shed some light on what appears to be an increasingly alarming situation?

Friday 10th March is now a watershed date for the fans/club. The cup match with Killie will set in place a series of events that will be pivotal to ICT immediate future : Win - Money spinner and media attention heading into the semis. Much needed injection of funds to reduce account loss projections. Fans interest and enthusiasm reignited. Change of fortune and results for the team resulting in achieving the playoffs. BD hangs on till end of season. Loose - More austere operating challenges for the club. Economy cuts across the playing and stadium staff. Billy Dodds and coaches depart as fans boycott any further involvement from him! Part-time team during realignment phase. Youth teams cut back. Fan base -season tickets reduced. JR takes up full time radio punditry at Dingwall. I expect their will be a change in the directors irrespective, so I’m parking that for now. It’s been a hell of a season so far and I find it hard to put drum up much evidence to see a victory for ICT on the day. That said we all know there is a small chance of a surprise on the day! I just wonder however does the current lot (on and off the park) deserve the fall from grace and another chance.??

Slightly off topic, but in my opinion the stadium will always be our ball and chain.

I think success on the field covered up a multitude of issues. This goes back more than 20 years. In 2002 Tullochs proposed a share issue which meant the club recieved an investment of £500,000. We had a good team at that point anyway and the further investment meant we could build a team that eventually got promoted. We also had two consecutive runs to the Scottish cup semi-final and the package we got from our manager leaving to go to Aberdeen. We then had five seasons in the top flight where revenues are much higher, our crowds were higher, we got TV money, we had big away supports. We also managed to sell a few players and managers and stay on an even keel. We then got relegated in 2009 and the board took a gamble at the time. They trusted Butcher with coming back up and took a big loss on that season - I thinkwe lost well over £500k that year but it worked and we were promoted again. The Butcher model then established us in the top flight and built a new team that was our most successful ever - top six finishes, cup finals, cup wins etc. That was dismantled remarkably quickly by appointing a manager who wasn't up to it and then firing him too late. We've essentially now been set adrift, making massive losses, not being able to build a team good enough to challange for promotion (last season was the closest we've got to going back up). That statement kind of sums it all up - we are relying on increasing off the field revenues, mention made of vague plans - doesn't fill me with hope. All clubs are looking to do this stuff and is there any evidence that our board are going to be able to produce revenue streams that wipe out the regular six figure losses we make? Nope. Freeports are a political thing as well - it's likely we will have a change of government in the next couple of years, what if the new administration shelve them? Where does that leave us?

Also true. As one senior person at the Club rather grudgingly put it on Gardiner's appointment, "at least this one knows how many players there are in a football team!"

That's true, but there is no doubt that our situation is getting progressively worse and there is no sign of the club doing anything other than produce some vague assurances over projects which may or may not bring some money into the club. In the meantime, the club ignores the fact that we also have some distinct advantages over other clubs both in and out of the championship. The population of Inverness is bigger than or on a par with many of the sides both in the Championship and the Premiership. Many of those clubs also have the disadvantage of either other big clubs being located in the same town/city (Queens Park) or being close to other towns with well established clubs (Hamilton). Inverness is a growing city with a population of roughly 70,000 and a pretty wide catchment area beyond that. Regardless of the vagaries of who locally chooses to put significant money into what club, we have the potential to pull in bigger crowds and attract individuals to support the club in other ways. The club likes to brand itself as a family club, but it seems to be the sort of family where family members never speak to each other. Without the kind of substantial long term financial support our neighbours across the bridge have enjoyed, it is particularly important that the club reaches out to the supporters and the wider local community. It should be said that the Club's Community Trust does a wonderful job, but far from trying to integrate itself as a pivotal part of the City's fabric, the football club seems, if anything, to be alienating itself from the community which is its life blood. Nobody is saying it is easy to attract bigger crowds, but that shouldn't stop us trying. It also means the Club should do all it can to stop even more of its long term fans from drifting away.

As an addition to all you've said which is spot on, have we ever as a club been so top heavy re executive wages? We can't see wages breakdown but we seen to have lots of chiefs and too few workers bees? Also who are the 92 employees mentioned?

When you look at other full time clubs outwith the Premiership they are all running losses. Some (Queen's Park, Falkirk) are even worse than ours. The truth is that being full time in the Championship or League One is viable only if you have significant backing from owners/directors. The costs are just too high. Whilst there are clearly ways the club could be run better I don't think it is realistic to have a competent team on the pitch and run a profit. Ayr, Cove, Dundee, Queen's Park and Dunfermline have that significant backing. Morton and Partick Thistle are fan-owned and it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. Hamilton, Raith Rovers and Falkirk, like us, appear to be basket cases. As stated above one of the big problems with going part-time is that our player pool would be drastically reduced because of geography; we would be far more likely to end up like Elgin City than like Arbroath. So taking that step is likely to just lead to further irreversible decline. So we are between a rock and a hard place. Either the directors continue to subsidise our losses and we muddle on hoping we hit the jackpot and get promoted, or we find a sugar daddy (anyone want to seek out Alan Savage and kiss his feet?) or we are screwed.

These eye watering losses kicked in as soon as we were relegated (Nareystoepoker has a good tweet summarising the most recent losses). Parachute payments, and later COVID grants, softened the blow but it's clear that these losses were mounting up long before Gardiner arrived. That said, a lot of criticism is definitely justified and I don't disagree with your comments about the alienation of the fanbase and the farce that was the stadium gigs. I also agree that local businesses being burnt will haunt us for many a year to come and I believe that's why Grassa has been brought back to try and repair some of the damage. We've had a lot of hot air and very little substance over the last couple of years at least. As for your final query about what schemes have not failed I cannot think of one that has been a roaring success. The only ones that could maybe be passed off as a win would be small scale bob a jobs around the ground where local businesses maybe spruced up parts of the stadium in return for a free plug on the club website and social media but that is obviously no help to us whatsoever in the grand scheme of things.

Its hard to know where to start having read through the accounts! Ok we all know that football clubs have a hard time to balance the books, but these seem to go beyond that. Personally, I do think Scot Gardiner, if in not wholly responsible for this mess, then a good part responsible. Last years accounts were signed off with the promise of funding coming via the concerts, this was spearheaded by SG and we all know the mess we ended up in thanks to that. Not only did it not make any money for the club but the damage it did to the reputation of the club with the local businesses will take a long time to heal. SG was brought in to the club to basically manage the non-football side of the business and although the club were making losses prior to his arrival, was that not the whole point of investing in a CEO to reverse these losses? Now this years pie in the sky to get the accounts signed off is Red John and a battery farm. But there does not seem to be any time frames for when or even if these ventures will ever show any income for the football club. Yesterday when the accounts went into the public domain, it would have been good if the club had issued a statement to explain things, reassure the fans, explain a bit more about all these things that are supposed to be happening to keep the club trading. The silence from the club is just as worrying than the actual accounts.

We always had an average £250k hole which needed plugged every year, and people who were willing to do so. But losses now are at levels which we've not seen for a long time and are beyond previously proven sustainable levels. What's worse is the mounting debt. However, what we were actually warned about in regards to Scot Gardiner is that he would treat everyone with utter contempt and alienate the fanbase...which is exactly what he has done. Our current situation is a byproduct of that. I also disagree with previous comments about there still being some good will left. After the concert fiasco, there's not many businesses in town who have a good word to say about the club, and as can be seen, not many fans either. Out of interest, can you tell me which of Scot Gardiner's schemes have not failed?

Who'd have thought sticking with a manager for 2 seasons who has presided over horrific winless runs in a league where our player quality and budget is at a level where everyone acknowledges we should be top 2 or 3 clubs with strong favoritism for promotion. Before anyone jumps in with this injuries crap, the fact that any business is willing to stand by for 18 months watching its leadership fail not once but twice by repeating the same patterns is alarming. The standards shown historically across the club have slipped dramatically and now mediocrity is seen as acceptable.

We haven't started losing money since Gardiner arrived. It's been an issue before his time as well. Granted some of the schemes to generate additional revenue outside of football, whilst admirable, have largely fallen completely flat and "core" revenue generation methods (i.e. supporters) have been forgotten about or neglected leading to an utterly desperate situation but he's not the only person to blame here (though I think a lot does fall on his shoulders). Hard to see anything other than part time football for us in the next year or so.

Some **** on pie and bovril has said that JAMES MCARTHUR is being lined up in a player/manager role for next season so that shows the type of morons that post on that forum! Some on here seem to have a dislike for me but I'm not as moronic as anyone on that forum, no wonder I prefer this forum to there!

Probably a question that takes the thread OT but I've always wondered how we didn't attract the same kind of backing during our more successful years and have tended to be a bit of a basket case off the field.