Leaderboard

This is, while I appreciate what Morrison is put financially into the club I have zero sympathy. He's created this situation or at the very least allowed it to come about through the business genius of Gardiner. We are moving to Kelty because it's the ONLY way we can survive apparently. Yet we've probably spent the best part of £500k on Gardiner since he came, and for what exactly? He's here to develop partnerships and further the club and has done the polar opposite. We've kept on Robertson as some kind of weird Sporting Director when he couldn't cope with continuing as manager. Thereafter he did the grand total of fk all other than cut the grass at the IRA - and we're still paying him! We give Dodds a contract extension on the basis that he got the SC Final, even though we only made it due to a clerical fk up. We then sacked him 6 games later - and are still paying him to this day. We bring in a 'big name' manager out of left field with next to no Scottish Football knowledge or experience and a history of failure and relegation. Allegedly on £4k a WEEK (OVER £200K A YEAR!) Confirmed by Morrison not to be covered by a Director but paid by the club. This big name then seems to be totally stubborn re his tactics and player selection, never learns from his mistakes and gets us relegated. Even if he takes a significant pay cut he'll still not be on less than £100k a year. Absolutely astonishing array of terrible decisions time after time. Nobody has more blame for your lost million plus quid than you Ross and regardless it sure as fk isn't the fans. We must be among the least demanding fans in the country. All we wanted was to be listened to, paid some respect and appreciation. Failed on all counts.

We trying to save the club or get Gardyne back?

I totally agree Fraz. This is a complete disaster and all because our directors have been led up the garden path by one man

Was an opinion piece in P&J yesterday by Mike Edwards (a former STV journey) headlined "Where Inverness Caley Thistle trains is irrelevant, so bring on Kelty move" It had the sub-headline of: To get out of this league and back into the running for a tilt at the big time requires radical plans. Having never heard of him before, his Wikipedia lists many impressive accolades and philanthropic work. That said, this P&J article opinion column was very poor. It came across as incredibly conceited: "You should have seen the look on many football managers' faces when I turned up to meet them in the three-piece suit they'd seen me wearing on the TV news the night before while outside the High Court." The actual argument in Mike's op-ed price was that Jim Jeffries told him Kilmarnock FC trained at the University of Glasgow facilities. "I was perplexed. I always thought provincial Scottish football clubs had to be part and parcel of their local communities" Mike: You can drive from Kilmarnock to Glasgow in thirty minutes. Just about the same time as it takes to drive from Inverness to Fort George... The article was poor in other respects. His deep 'love' of football was on show: "Once we'd got the dreary business of his injury-depleted squad and the formation and system he'd [Jim Jeffries at Killie] deploy on a Saturday out of the way, we got chatting..." (perhaps about his three-piece suit and its appearance at the high court the night before?) And the chat with Jim did not leave Mike at all impressed: "He was amiable enough, but I wouldn't want him on my team in a pub quiz" I initially assumed it was Mike's perception of Jim Jefferies' general knowledge that put him off, but it could just as easily have been Jim's attire, or perhaps his choice of evening TV... Most revealing - and the only interesting or insightful part of this entire pompous and vain puff piece - was that Mike apparently emailed ICT two years ago and offered to be a director, dangling the princely sum of £475,000 as a long-term, interest free loan as the carrot. He got no response. Anyway, before the club scrambles to fish out that email and call off the Kelty move (or more likely, as the jilted lover, get in there and dump Fife Council before they dump us), Mike has since invested the sum into buying up holiday homes in the area instead, and the rent pleases him. To be fair, I may have totally mis-read Mike, as I didn't understand many of the words he uses, such as 'imbroglio', cri de coeur or 'contretemp'. There have been too many like Mike - namely Graham Rae, and now it seems, Ross Morrison - who see ICT as a personal plaything where only their (usually harebrained) idea is the right idea, where if it seems right to them, it must be right everywhere, and where the real, generational support is treated as a nuisance, as in this opinion piece. Hiring Yvonne Crook and Scot Gardiner as CEOs - both completely laughable and indefensible hires - are warnings ahead: how can the Supporters Trust and the club be emboldened to protect ICT's scarce resources in future from these vainglorious types and their nepotism?

Do we not have the capability to negotiate a contract with a reasonable termination clause? If we have to constantly pay people for another 6, 12, or 18 months after agreeing to part ways then it would appear not. In real life I deal with very large contracts for software and services and when we get round the table with vendors, discounts for bulk purchase or multi-year deals where things go well, along with get out clauses for scenarios where it doesn’t, are discussed from the off…

I understand that was the first payment for renting the car park out to the hydro facility, but it’s been delayed (rumoured to be as the Council want the club to apply for planning permission to have it used as a car park for that rather than just for events at the stadium).

Both project failed miserably in terms of meeting their targets, but I’m not sure you are right that they were actually catastrophic financial failures. I know it’s not what anyone wants to hear, but these Gardiner projects seem to have made significant non-footballing contributions to ICT. RM stated last week that the club’s interest in the battery farm was recently sold for £250,000, and in the previous year or two there were statements that the club rented the stadium and provided other services to the concert company for sums that would surely have been well into 5 figures. So it seems to be the case that these crazy, failed schemes have actually generated more income than a year’s worth of season tickets.

Thanks for the clarification, Stephen. That's helpful. OK, these will be factors affecting the current as well then, but I suspect the core financial issues run deeper still. By the way, I heard years ago (before Morrison) that sponsors hadn't been contacted for renewal of advertising boards. It's difficult to know what's rumour/gossip and truth when you're an outsider but I heard stuff like that from different sources.

This club has never been able to come especially close to generating income to match its football expenditure and I can’t see how anyone could conceivably think otherwise. For several years after the near financial collapse of 1999, £5M from Tullochs kept it going but more recently that has given way to raising extra share capital (significantly almost £1M from Muirfield Mills) and cadging loans such as from Ross Morrison. Unfortunately, two attempts to raise income by non-football means - the Concert Company and the Battery Farm - have been catastrophic financial failures and the former (or possibly arguably both) also brought severe reputational damage. Thank you for revealing that all-time losses come to £6.7M. I had only got as far as establishing £3.5M (more than half of that) within only the last six years, so it’s clear that the funding gulf is accelerating. I’ve made the ballpark estimate that, additional to initial stadium funding, ICT has cumulatively needed £10M of other people’s money to get to where it is today. But if you think that’s a lot, I would also estimate that the corresponding figure for Ross County is around £20M and in the last 10 years alone £11.4M in loans from its parent company have been written off, so loss making seems to be accelerating there as well. The difference between the two clubs is that Roy MacGregor has been a far larger, more reliable and longer term source of “bailout cash” than ICT’s. In fact the scale and longevity of Roy’s support have been quite remarkable - although what happens when that eventually dries up is another matter. As far as ICT is concerned, I’m struggling to see a sustainable way out of this…. but as sure as hell, decanting the first team to Fife sure isn’t among the options. On that particular subject, judging by what random people I’ve had casual conversation with over the last week, I have been absolutely dismayed at the laughing stock that the club has now become in the public eye.

I was that fan who spoke on Sportsound today and if you don’t think that part of the problem is those ventures you are way off the mark! The concert fiasco destroyed relationships with local businesses and some are still owed money! Those broken relationships have led to less money coming through the tills! Hospitality is nearly non existent now! Sponsor’s haven’t been contacted to renew deals and some have had free advertisement for over 3 years due to the club not picking up the phone. Yes it’s been going on for a long time and Ross is a fan but the club isn’t being ran properly! We just want a football team to support and be proud off! We have had more communication around battery farms than we have had about any football matters last season!

We will be in Gran Canaria from 8-15 June, in a hotel which we've been to before. That means our last night will be in front of a telly, watching the opening game. This hotel is very popular with Germans

As an employee, the longest notice period that I had was 3 months. Sometimes it was a month. Maybe it's different in football? Perhaps the cash flow is so bad that they can't afford to pay anyone a lump sum, but have to keep them on the payroll for all of their notice period. See also Robbo.

Yeah, was going to say this. I disagreed with him on twitter when he posted this and he is one of those I referred to when I said I had only heard of a couple of ICT supporters who had thought this a good idea. Mike has an impeccable track record of supporting ICT and Caley before that, sits in with the proletariat when our paths have crossed and in his younger days was a High School boy and began career at local press (Courier/P&J) as well as MFR before moving onwards and upwards. The rest can be got from Wikipedia! Regardless of what you think of his ‘with strings’ offer from a few years ago, the bigger issue is no-one replied. There is a pattern here of looking gift horses in the mouth and not bothering to contact folks who may be interested in helping in one way or another.

Proceeds from the club selling its soul? The buyer is certainly not someone who can be trusted to pay promptly!

Players wives started an OF?

We can share and you can pick me up at Charnock Richard

You might be surprised ..

Mike’s a long standing supporter of ICT and, I think, Caley before that. You can often see him sitting amongst the ICT support, so maybe there’s a nuance there that you’ve missed. I admit that I haven’t read the piece.

Yes

I finally found the time to listen to it tonight and well done to the guys involved and I just hope the chairman will take heed and sort out the main problem!

The Courier has picked up on the financial implications of fans not renewing season tickets: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/supporters-trust-say-ict-set-to-lose-200-000-from-fan-boyc-352180/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Gary Bollan could cover the space in goal.

I think we will have more fans at away games than home games unless we get the changes we want!

Paywall be gone - https://archive.ph/2NKUR

Only thing that he said in the pod that actually piqued my interest. Glad he's actually looking into revamping it, needs a vast overhaul to get people in well before the game. Current state its in just feels like a pint in that rarely-ever-used side hall of a Village Hall... Just nothing about it currently puts it forward as a competitor to having a pint in the city center

This is risible! Fife Council have had no involvement in talks, as stated in the Inverness Courier. The P&J go further: "Fife Council’s community manager Sarah Roxburgh confirmed that Fife Council owns the pitch and that the council had not been involved in the partnership plans recently announced by Kelty Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle" "We understand discussions between the two clubs are ongoing. On behalf of Fife Council, we'll need to be involved to review current booking terms and conditions as well as weigh up the impact that this may have on the availability of the community pitch to other users with any potential benefits" Not at all surprising given it is the owner, and it was all paid for by £7m of Fife Council's money for/from its community! Central Fife Times, in 2016, stated Fife council had set up a Community Investment Fund and said 'Additional facilities include a large outdoor football 3G pitch for use by Kelty Hearts the village junior team, the school and the local community'. The "Turf Matters" website in 2018 stated Fife Council had invested £665,000 in the park for the whole community and said it was 'a community asset that is open to the paying public'. Kelty Hearts Community Club, which is a registered charity, was reported in the Central Fife Times in 2019 as having over 160 young people on their books as well with an under 20s team and woman’s team and a walking football team all included. They have an online booking system here (for New Central Park) and here for Bath Street Park (grass). Their Twitter/X shows that in the last week, Kelty CC had their Under 17s, under 16s, under 14s maroons, under 14s whites, under 13 maroons, all playing teams from elsewhere in the region and doing very well (the Under 14 Maroons won the Fife Football Development League which has Raith and Dunfermline in it) Kelty Community Club Facebook states that Sunday afternoons are for their '2007s' who play in the Under 18s AFYFC Division One. Mon and Wed evenings for the girls teams, Mon 8th July is booked in the morning for Open trials for the 2012s. What an active Centre and pitch! Active Fife Football - which is basically High Life Highland - is Fife Council's own initiative. They have mornings reserved for infants and Fri nights 5pm-6.30 for 10-17 year olds every week etc (via Active Fife Football FB). That same 2019 article in Central Fife Times was about the issues they have with limited parking. The charity applied to lease land to build a car park as there was not enough parking during evenings or match days. A post on WeArePerth suggests that the changing rooms for New Central Park are housed in the Community Centre (assuming ICT would need to use a gym, meeting rooms, changing rooms, etc.). This Community Centre was built, again according to the 2016 report in Central Fife Times, By Fife Council's Community Investment Fund. So basically, the board are intending to take its commercial full time pro football team operation into a community - 146 miles away - and take over its facilities, which is primarily being used by a youth charity, without asking it! Ross Morrison: "I have got to take responsibility as the chairman. The idea came to me, and I thought we cannot move down there. Then I thought about it [and while re-thinking it, did it ever occur to you to ask the person who brought the idea to you if it they had approval from its owner before announcing it to the public...] and it works" [well, clearly does not - and neither does the CEO and the board] If the Chairman is reading this, this can be a watershed moment. Please drop your backing for the CEO Scot Gardiner before its too late. Surround yourself instead with better people, people who have actually had ICTs best interests at heart, for decades, even if you see them as the problem at the moment (and you might have justification, nobody's perfect). Don't let pride get in the way - you'll find a lot of people will understand that you put your faith in the wrong person -Scot Gardiner - and that led you down the (boat of) garden path. But you have to change tack now. Not in a week, not in two weeks - because then you'll be complicit and it will be impossible for you to disassociate yourself. You've put in money, you came out and spoke to the Press, and that is laudable - but if this doesn't provide you with the stark reality of the CEOs toxic effect, it'll be impossible to salvage. You have put in money and time, and emotions into ICT - do the right thing and people will surprise you, if you put ICT first from today. It might even be the path you've been looking for all along. Please don't sink the club because of one employee.

I find it a little suspicious that the creditor and debtor figures are the same. It feels like just another lack of accountability statement 'we're £300k in the hole and can't pay our debts but it's someone elses fault'. If this is money due in from the hydro place renting carparks then is this just another grand scheme set to go wrong? That was a deal done with our sponsor but they have since sold the hydro to another company. Have we hacked off our sponsor by not getting the battery scheme over the line? Were all these agreements dependent on each other? Lots of questions and still not many answers.

And for those looking to peruse the Accounts, guess what?

So if Dodds is on the payroll so is Bazza ? Are they offski on June 7th with Robbo ? How much adding on Ferguson's wage has that cost?

Billy Dodds chipping in too, and confirming that he is still on our payroll.

One of the many interesting revelations in the RM interview on the pod was that an receipt of about £300,000 expected in April had not come in yet (did I catch that right?). What could that be? The only sums of that magnitude I can think of would be monies from the football authorities, a transfer fee or sell on clause from another club, or perhaps a tax/VAT refund but I’m not sure what could have given rise to that, or any of them really. Any ideas?

Dont forget the ability to pump endless tens of thousands of pounds regularly with no return. Not many of them running to be front of the queue to take the reigns.

Not sure about that - if the battery farm proceeds and generates a huge lump sum after administration, the proceeds would go to Ross Morrison who has security over it. So it would not be in his interest for the club to have sold it on the cheap. The directors buying it have taken a huge gamble, there is a fair chance it is worth zilch, time will tell. Another observation - the battery farm project has generated £250,000 income for the club, which whilst a lot less than was intended, means it has been very worthwhile, vindicating the decision to pursue it?