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Absolutely spineless to walk away and tell the board that's left that Gardiner is their problem. No acceptance of accountability from beginning to end.

We're now eleven days on from the Kelty announcement and five days on from Ross Morrison's dialogue with the Wyness Shuffle and subsequent board meeting. Despite confirmation from Alan Savage that he/Orion will finance the Academy moving forward and then a flurry of rumours on Friday past we're pretty much none the wiser where we stand and getting ever closer to pre-season in what is undoubtedly a make or break season for the club. Is it too much for the people entrusted with the running of the club to give us an update as to where we go from here? It's an absolute farce and yet, to the best of our knowledge, we continue to pay the wages of our alleged CEO who presides over the whole pantomime with complete and utter disregard for the fans, players and club staff. It's an utter omnishambles from top to bottom and we need answers now.

Of Morrison, Gardiner and Ferguson, Morrison was the last one I wanted to resign. Gardiner should have been fired and Ferguson should have had some dignity and walked.

Morrison said “I would ask the fans to rally round the club at this time and show their support by not only purchasing their season tickets but also getting involved directly with the club to see how they can help". I will be more than happy to do that, but not whilst Gardiner is there and not until the absurd Kelty scheme is reversed.

Both are factors. However, next season, if this does happen, then a third factor comes in and that is the purely mercenary aspect. I get that at it's heart, football itself is mercenary, but at this level, a player connected to the club and the city will usually have fight. A loanee who is enjoying his time at the club and the city may develop some fight during their time there, but a mercenary, in Fife for the paycheck, or because they can't get another gig, will not fight for the city, the team, and a set of supporters they visit every other week. They will not put down roots in the community or develop friendships that matter or can provide them with motivation. they will simply turn up and have a day at the office, good or bad, then go home and forget about it. From a purely business perspective, then it makes sense at some level. You cut your accommodation costs, you increase your potential employee pool, and its all great. (in theory). When you factor in the costs of maintaining two locations, added travel costs for home games, having coaches up here for the youths, and the loss of season tickets and local sponsorship, then the business logic may just not add up. Far be it from ICT in the recent past to have a business idea where the numbers don't stack up!! However, football is not a logical business, its tribal and emotional. We want local players playing for us, or we want players who are currently living locally regardless of where they came from. We will support and embrace them because they chose our club and our city and we appreciate that. My favourite player from ICT is Big Bobby, and my son's is David Raven, and there's not much of a "right enuff" or "chatty doof" in either of their vocabularies! We want players we might bump into in Tesco and have a conversation, or those whose kids might go to school with our kids and therefore we get to know them outside of football, or who come and coach our kids in their spare time and we appreciate them. Players who might visit schools and give nutrition or fitness advice, or who might pop along to Raigmore and visit ICT supporting kids (or adults) who are under the weather ... all the aspects that make this the community club that it has been since 1994 and which it has been drifting away from with a quickening pace since the 2017-18 season. This in turn gives the club intangible benefits as part of the community. It's about good will, it's about sponsors who see value in the club and give them services at low or no cost over and above sponsor money, it's about volunteers who donate time, energy and yes, money when they feel appreciated or think there is something they can do to help the club. For those of us without pots of money, then we can do things in little ways as it all adds up. That gets hard when certain individuals (and that is pointed to more than just our current CEO) start to look down noses at people and treat them like something on the bottom of their shoe. Thats where it gets hard - when your so-called leaders start to treat you like s***, look down noses, take sponsors for granted and either reduce the offering thinking everyone will just swallow that s*** with a spoon, or take advantage of them a-la the concert fiasco (allegedly). You see the outpouring of anguish at relegation and the kelty folly from players who have been at the club in the past, whether local boys, or those who came up from the south (and by that I mean both Central Belt and England). Many of these former players would crawl over broken glass and put every ounce of energy into performances as they had both an affinity for and a close bond with both the city and their fellow team-mates. The team that got promoted to the Premiership has just had a reunion!!! We have heard it mentioned so many times about the bond at ICT being so special and 'different' because of the geography rather than in spite of it. You will NOT get that with short term loanees based in Fife or where those players go in half a dozen different directions after training and never socialise or mingle outside of work. We very well might get some performances, or we might get nothing, but the players, the manager, and the already fife-dwelling officials of the club will have very little affinity or connection to the area and the city they are supposedly representing. We likely all have anecdotes or examples from the last few years of behaviour that rankles and the whole Kelty thing (which was slated to happen regardless of relegation or not), for many, is the straw that broke the Camel's back. If there were transparency and communication over the last few years perhaps things might be different, but this is just a further disconnection from the fans, the city and the area.

No. It is not simple fact that these projects made us a lot of money. The Battery company was sold to 3 of the Club's directors who could simply have put the same anount of money into the club had they so wished. Time will tell whether the Directors taking over ownership of the company is of more benefit to the club than if it had stayed with the club. It is true the club received an income from the concert company's activities, but had the club just done the sensible thing and rented the ground out to a production company who knew what they were doing, the club would still have received significant income. No doubt the Concert Company was happy to pay the club a bigger sum for the rental of the stadium and the time of club employees etc than a proper production company would have done, but any extra income was at the expense of local business who were left out of pocket by the failure of the enterprise. If the club made more out of the venture than they would have done by simply hiring facilities out to a production company, then the decent thing would have been for the club to honour the debts from its own profiteering. Against any profits the club may have made from these ventures are the opportunity costs. Both projects, and the concert fiasco in particular, have resulted in huge reputational damage to the club. As a result, the club will have been losing significant income which might have come from local businesses in terms of sponsorship and hospitality. Club staff and directors have been spending a totally disproportional amount of time on these vanity projects and have been ignoring the bread and butter business of the football club. A little bit more focus on the footballing side of things and we might not have been relegated this season. A bit more focus on the wide range of shortcomings highlighted in the Supporters Trust's matchday survey and we might be seeing a few more through the turnstiles and spending a bit more when they do come.

Not sure the fans want administration. They probably want a properly run club with a sensible plan to go forward. It says a lot about the club that administration is preferable to the current plan.

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/exclusive-ross-morrison-resigns-as-chairman-inverness-caled-352334/ “I would ask the fans to rally round the club at this time and show their support by not only purchasing their season tickets but also getting involved directly with the club to see how they can help". Many have tried - few have succeeded in recent years. Genuinely sorry that RM went before the CEO to be honest. He seems genuine, and we know he was a supporter long before he was the chairman. With him gone, the main problem still remains.

I would suggest Administration is more likely with the plan than without it. Not a shred of any argument has been given as to why we would get a better team through this plan or why targeted players would choose us over central belt teams. And because players are not locally based, it is inevitable that a lot of fans would increasingly lose interest.

Well, we're f'cked. If we don't go into administration before the season starts I'll be surprised.

I can accept Ferguson if necessary but Gardiner and Kelty are non negotiable. Get Gardiner Gone

The Supporters Trust have been amazing at keeping in touch with supporters over the last few weeks. Their updates and clarification on everything that is going on have been most welcome. Their updates testify that I'm not the only one who doesn't know what is happening - no one does either. The silence seems to speak volumes - more secrets to come I fear.

If we win our first 8 games without a goalie, I'll put a pound on us romping the league

I'll renew my season ticket when Gardiner and Ferguson go and the move to Kelty is scrapped

Wrong one gone !!

It's the damage it has done to the club Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the name of the Concert Company and the battery farm dragging us down to the mire that will haunt us for many years even if we survive as a football club. A bad debtor is regarded as a bad debtor for many years especially in the Highlands! It's sad to say but I think there is worse to come as our board are not talking and those who are are trying to cover their a**e.

Yes, an interesting read. Nice to hear some common sense from a former Chairman. Someone who would like to see the club become a football club again.

Or poor contract writing not to have the use of the car park secured in the deal.

Wish he had it in him to sack the CEO before he left …

Have to say this was a first class post

Wonder now if any of the vocal critics will be stepping up with £1.5m to keep the club afloat?

This will be like the transfer day deadline waiting for any news to come through and usually there is nothing.

The club shop! Is that where you can buy the club at a discounted rate?

I was reminded of David Cameron after the Brexit referendum.

Looks like we could be staying put after latest news just breaking!!

...and in the last 14 days or so, I appear to have had about 10 emails from the Trust with updates, notifications or other stuff. So much email that my spam filter prompted be to confirm it was not unwanted email #Communication

Can you pick up from Kelty, and do you have space for 25 plus bags? Asking for a friend.

Thank you for the feedback. We will continue to work hard on behalf of our membership and the wider fan base.

Yes he did, taking his loan balance to £1.5m apparently.

Potentially very awkward if we haven't got a team.

I would have to argue that the CC and the BF were pursued as means of attracting the large amount of money needed to bail a seriously financially challenged club out of a big hole, but they have only realised pennies in comparison. As a result, more than two years have been wasted on a wild goose chase instead of something far more useful, and as a result the club appears to be on the brink of insolvency. That to me is a financial disaster a bit like someone getting into a million pound debt but letting it run because they think they’ve won a pools jackpot - and then discovering it’s only a thousand quid.

40 days to sort out the mess the club is in off the park and find the money to sign players to put a team on the park. Given everything that's happened there's no way the board can trust Gardiner to play any part in that.

I'm shocked we haven't put out the club shop opening hours! Something must be badly wrong.

Beeb suggesting it could be - board meeting tonight? Just read Alan Savage’s piece in the Courier. Doesn’t pull his punches about the imbecilic move and how he needs to ringfence his financial support and won’t deal with Gardiner. Ryan Christie bought footballs last year because there was no money? What kind of priorities has the board had? Crazy.

Interesting, isn’t it, the difference between the views of some people who take a central belt perspective and the local or locally sympathetic view. Also “Inverness could win their first eight matches next season…” Could they REALLY?

Kelty move off?

Unfortunately it seems more likely than ever before. But it’s what the fans want…

I'll be happy to take over as Chairman. I'm only 560 miles from inverness.

The courier is also reporting that Park and ride scheme has fallen through. Statkraft bought out the Red John scheme from ILI and have not been able to agree costs with the Club. They have therefore walked away from the deal and are looking elsewhere. That is yet another non footballing scheme which has failed. It just gets worse and worse. Suggestion that not receiving the expected payment for this may be the reason for not being able to submit the accounts.

The format of the league Cup is what really makes it a shambles.

Perhaps they were hand delivered

I see the 2023 accounts still aren’t available at Companies House. No idea what is actually happening there but a possible explanation is that IF they filed paper copies, which they are entitled to do, then provided they were received by the specified deadline the club would have met its obligations. With paper copies, it usually takes Companies House about a week to scan and upload them.

Kelty is the only place we will not be running a bus to, unless matters are resolved satisfactorily.

The Supporters Trust issued an update to our members last night, which can be viewed at this link: https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/post/the-past-15-days Thank you for all the positive feedback we have received about our efforts, which is greatly appreciated. If you are not a member of the Trust (anyone joining now will have their membership apply until the end of July 2025) you can join using this link: https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/join-us Use this link to make a subscription or donation to Stronger Together, and we would highlight again that the Trust Board will only use this to purchase shares in the club when it is has sought and received commitments from the club Board: https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/stronger-together

Ross Morrison said on the podcast he donated £40K last week but it would be the last if I heard him correctly.

Apparently Boydie now lives in Inverness and is known to frequent some pubs in town.

Duncan Chisholm in Julie Fowlis’s band at The Gathering yesterday.

It’s such a pity Cammy’s not getting his opportunity to make the no1 shirt his own in the new season. Kelty no doubt a major factor in his thinking.

I don’t think you’re too far wrong there! The vital component is Tullochs. The debt in 1999 before they came in was said to be £2.3M; that disappeared as a result of a deal over the stadium which was subsequently donated back to the club, Tulloch’s £729K in shares - the biggest single holding - was later donated to the ICT Charitable Trust and Tullochs built the North and South stands on less than 7 weeks to ensure that the team came back from Aberdeen early in 2005. For several years Tullochs controlled the Board and there were even a couple of very modest profits in there. The Tulloch interest had departed by the mid-2010s and it’s since then that financial decline has set in again. I’m not arguing a 100% cause and effect here because there will have been other factors but there’s a strong link between financial and playing success and the Tulloch involvement.

We trying to save the club or get Gardyne back?