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For some reason, administration and moving to Kelty have sometimes been presented as alternatives ever since the meeting in the Social Club - where I do believe that a totally hypothetical indication was indeed made preferring admin. This sentiment also came out in the local media and I think diffused south as a result and has been taken as literal, but I don’t think that in real, practical terms these were ever alternatives. The club’s finances have been hovering on the edge of a precipice for years and I think that, once the Kelty wheeze emerged, one, neither or both of these outcomes were all possible permutations, although the last one is now eliminated. I’m sure that those within the stadium who were promoting Kelty were quite happy for it to be thought that it would prevent admin, and if admin does happen, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that attempts to attribute blame for it might include the demise of Kelty. However I think that the Kelty wheeze is simply the latest failed or impractical attempt to make the books balance and should therefore be filed alongside the Concert Company, the Battery Farm, letting the car park and the Green Freeport business.

I only hope that all those who's future employment at the club now looks doubtful, realise that our thoughts are with them. But this won't help them to put food on the table and this carry-on must be unbearable. As for Ridgers, if he reads these posts, I hope he knows how highly regarded he is amongst the fans. He has been an amazing servant to ICT and has given us so much joy over the years.

Now the board plays the fiddle while Rome burns. Ferguson has been paid how much since being hired - £180,000 according to the lower estimate by The Times? That's before all the extras that come associated with it. A quarter of a million a year. God only knows what ever-increasing sum Gardiner has managed to weasel out of the club in the last five years. While the club has always been up and down, looking for a transfer fee here or a cup run there, the two expenditures above should never have been allowed. Then there's Dodds and Robertson's too. If ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas. When (if?) admin is triggered, the straw is because the board recklessly (and needlessly) spent big, thinking they'd have millions from Battery Farm and Statkraft. They gambled, and as usual, it's the fans who lose.

With Wallace Duffy now posting he is away, because no-one spoke to him all season about a new deal so he assumed he was heading out the door anyway, then again, it is really bad man management. It's the job of a football manager or the DoF to sit these players down at some point in the season and either put an offer on the table or let them know they will not be offered a contract. Anything else is sheer cowardice and disrespectful. If the manager is on holiday then this is something that must be done before he starts that. Anything else is f***ing ignorant. If we take what Ridgers has said, then he's not even looking for the details, he is just looking for someone to say "look, we want to keep you here, you are a great servant to the club, but we simply don't know what or how much we can offer you. We will understand if you seek employment elsewhere, but as and when we know what's happening, we will offer you what we can". Thats does not seem unreasonable, nor does it bind the club to anything, but it at least lets their (former) employees know they are still wanted if something can be sorted out.

With each mounting catastrophe, the aversion to risk should have increased. Instead, we have seemingly lobbed the remaining eggs into each oncoming basket with gusto after a few were broken in each failed venture before it. Some of these schemes beggar belief and I also wonder why some things at the club were undertaken (at a premium cost) when perfectly good alternatives existed beforehand. Pixellot always annoys me because @ANDYCAM and the media team in place were doing a great job of filming, editing and commentary. Instead we get an amateur implementation of something that can't even distinguish between a ball and a bald head and goes viral for all the wrong reasons. How much did that cost us and why? Incidentally, my son's U11 team uses the same system to record and analyze all his games, and no issues when it is configured right! The concert company is another one. Ok, the club may be insulated from that legally and somewhat financially, but not morally or in the eyes of all those businesses who got screwed. But lets look at the concert itself. Why did it fail? Did the club look to anyone with expertise in running concert events for advice? Perhaps a former chairman or well-known supporter who had jointly owned an event company a few years ago, and one of whom is still running (successful) events on his own. If not, why not? We also seem to be bereft of any business savvy when it comes to all the other schemes such as battery farms, land investments, freeport advantages, land rental or other schemes designed to make us money. I don't profess to know all the ins and outs of this but we have some (very) successful businesspeople on the current board and past boards ... FFS, should someone not have sought out those who had expertise and acumen in certain areas of business and utilised that knowledge? Admitting you don't know something, or accepting advice and learning from that advice, is not a weakness, it is a strength, but it appears to not be a strength that Autocrat #1 at ICT seems to have. However, he is going to leave us with a final money winning scheme that will make us all rich .... I saw that article and it boils my blood. Someone, the manager or DoF, should be contacting those players and letting them know what the plan is, even if it's not finalised. As Ridgers said, he is not even looking for specifics, just that "we want to keep you but not sure what kind of offer we can make you until the dust settles" so he knows whether to bide his time or look elsewhere. The man has a family and needs to make sure they are provided for, so he is being extremely patient and loyal. Same for other players. It's not nice for anyone but FFS, at least speak to them and give them some info. For any player who chooses to continue their career away from ICT because you simply have no choice, then I applaud you for what you have done at the club, wish you well, and understand you are doing what you have to do for you, for your family, or for your career (or all of the above). For any that stick around to wait and see what contract (if any) gets offered, then that applause becomes a standing ovation because this situation is likely the hardest you have faced in your working life and your loyalty to the club and the fans should not be disrespected.

Just when you think those in charge of the club couldn't be any more awful and incompetent, lo and behold, they prove us wrong. What a disgusting way to treat a long serving, core member of the team who, despite all the chaos around the club, actually wants to stay here. Let's face it, if there's one player we are going to need next season, it is a good keeper. And Mark is a very good keeper.

How to avoid administration? 1) Ross and co. state - either publicly or via the Insolvency Practitioner and to potential new boards - that they would write off their loan accounts in order to save the club from administration/help facilitate a takeover. 2) A new, competent board with the necessary nous, gravitas and resources are quickly attracted by that, and put in place, and able to soothe any ruffled feathers among other creditors 3) 1 & 2 allows the insolvency practitioner to state an administrator is not needed (denying the SPFL Board a whiff of an 'insolvency event') The fact that the board and CEO feel the need to try and 'discourage' the press from making enquiries doesn't instill confidence that no.1 is on their minds. The wall of silence doesn't help, and so neither of these actions/inactions suggest paving the way for a seamless transition of power to no.2 If the IP appoints an administrator, even if a flood of season ticket money, Stronger Together monies, and new owners/benefactors came in and steadied the ship post-administration, the SPFL board could just cite a lack of SFA licence and allow two teams in for 25/26 season. The current SPFL Board may have no such intention - but it could change - the sword of Damocles would be hanging over ICT until the licence was able to be re-obtained, in December 2027 (or about then) Thus, administration must be averted at all costs, and 1 & 2 need to happen - very quickly. That's assuming liquidation isn't where the current board's AWOL accounts point. 'No news is good news' (even through press intimidation)?

Why would they sack Gardiner? Not long before quitting and leaving us in this state The (former) Chairman said that Gardiner had been 'loyal' and had been doing a good job. That terrified me because it clearly demonstrated the huge disconnect between the board and the reality of the situation with the fans and Gardiner. Did he not hear fans singing 'Gardiner GTF' week after week? The first thing I thought any half decent board would do after relegation would be to get rid of Gardiner but nope, we doubled down and with 'delight' announced the Kelty move. Personally I think it was just easier for them to employ him, let him tell them how amazing he was doing. Nobody seemed to ever have the backbone to question him, his decisions, his attitude, his methods or his recruitment. Some people have been saying for years he's detrimental to the club, nobody listened. Just pathetic all round.

Today is yet another very sad day, embarrassing for the club and everyone who has treated the players so disgracefully should hang their heads in shame. I’d like to join others in showing my appreciation for everything those leaving have done for the club. We know about Mark Ridgers, Cammy Harper, Wallace Duffy and Cammy MacKay. Best wishes to each of them and all other players in the same situation.

ICT's SFA license was approved in December last year (Silver) which covers the upcoming season, and it's not 'lost' as Dougal says, but more as STFU says, it would just not be awarded again for next season When ICT next has its SFA review, in (or after) Dec 2024, STFU is right that the SFA would not license a club that had experienced an "insolvency event" in the preceding three years, under almost all circumstances*. It is not that clear cut though, as Fraz and Snorbens point out, the SPFL rules and regulations allow for a waiver, relaxation or period of grace - and it appears from those rules that the SPFL Board have full authority to permit a club to continue (but the opposite also holds...). As IBM and Galiant Grunt highlighted, Kelty (!) and Edinburgh City, have gone beyond the March deadline, are not Bronze, and are getting re-reviewed this month, so may need this waiver, relaxation, period of grace. Being at the whim of the SPFL Board as to whether ICT can still be in the league next season, or the one after that, regardless of a 15 points deduction in this, is reason enough to avoid 'an insolvency event'! The Times reporting over the weekend that Duncan Ferguson was hired for between £5000-7000 per week is scandalous. If there is a potential reputable new consortium wanting to come in, and they are put off because the loans from directors and Chair to hire Ferguson, Gardiner etc are called in, then while ICT may be financially bankrupt, Ross and the directors will be morally so. *unless a sole creditor got a court order, but it was rectified within a fortnight - no harm, no foul

He should have had those conversations before he went, but hey-ho, he's on a reputed six figure salary so what does he care about players, especially those he didn't sign or loan-in.

Just another indication there will no alternative to admin. The board it appears have simply given up. Not a leader amongst them just a collection of suits, brogues & club ties.

It's a disgrace. Even if we're not in a position to offer players contracts the club should be making this clear instead of leaving them in the lurch. Just another embarrassment in a very long list of embarrassments over the last few weeks. The last time we were relegated I believe the players who were released only heard about it when the club put up a list on the website - I'm not sure this is an improvement.

One thing that really grates with me is the complete naivety with which they stumbled one after another into all five failed projects I mentioned in my last post, where the strong impression was continually given that nothing could possibly go wrong. The Concert Company catastrophe should have been a warning that things very definitely COULD go wrong and I still cringe at the aura of satisfaction with which Scot Gardiner told the last AGM that the club had extracted stadium rent from the concert company before it went bust (hence leaving local traders more out of pocket than would otherwise have been the case). And what then ensued was Einstein’s definition of insanity… keeping doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome. So in similar fashion, the other four projects were also pressed forward with the same degree of complacency… and all fell flat on their faces. The outcome… two years of wild goose chasing while the club’s finances went further and further down the toilet to the extent that administration and possibly oblivion beckon.

Harry Gow?

The floating charge is entirely normal in business, and you can’t pledge the same assets as security to more than one lender hence the negative pledge. The club only owns 1% of the battery farm company having cashed in for £250,000, so the appeal isn’t really our problem any more. Morrison’s security over the battery farm shares now seems worthless, and he actually paid cash to the club to buy 1/3rd of something that he could have claimed full ownership of under the charge he had.

Folk should be down the stadium with pitch forks demanding those in charge come out and face them. What an absolute shambles. I'm embarrassed to say I support this team right now.

If he has any dignity, he will. What a complete waste of money he's turned out to be. Our performances in the playoffs should've been enough for him to walk!

You've got to feel for Ridgers and all the other lads left in the dark by our illustrious board and CEO. Despite the turmoil the lack of basic communication is really quite appalling. I was optimistic that a white knight would arrive to save the day but we're certainly making a pretty good fist of looking very much like a club going out of business.

Hard to disagree. What an absolute s##t show. Still no information forthcoming and clock ticking towards the season. Nothing ever changes re communication and as all the gambling has become losing bets what happens now?

I totally agree Fraz it’s not just the fans that don’t hear anything. For the players and staff it is shocking the way they have been treated. Shame on their employers

Exactly. To my mind it was never an either/or issue. Whilst the club maybe presented it as such, the widely ridiculed Kelty option was presented as a done deal. There was absolutely no argument presented as to why it would save the sums stated or why it would produce a more competitive team. In reality, it was more likely to project us towards administration than staying put would. The value of the scheme to the Board seems to be that administration can now be blamed on the fans for rejecting the latest brilliant plan for keeping the club solvent.

Will we ever debate football again ? I feel like I have been doing a Law degree in the last few weeks

Thanks to Doofer's Dad, Achfary, Fraz, Scotty and all those online who are trying to make sense of where we stand as far as the rules and law are concerned. Personally, I couldn't even begin to understand all of this, so I am grateful to you all for doing your best to protect our club.

The accounts being late is almost certainly because of the lack of certainty as to whether the club is a going concern. It seems increasingly certain that we are NOT a going concern. As for the AGM, I think everyone at the club has more important things to deal with over the next few weeks - yes it is supposed to happen in a prescribed timescale, but asking about the AGM right now feels like a a passenger on the Titanic heading to the lifeboats and asking what time breakfast will be served!

If he stopped covering the doughnuts with hundreds and thousands he could give them to the club.

I would have thought that would be the job of a manager. Anyone heard from Dunc recently?

There's nothing in any of this that surprises me other than the scale of it.

Absolutely shameful that Directors who may have put money into the club but who live absolutely comfortable lives have treated the players so disgracefully.

At all costs? Including training in the central belt to save a 6 figure running cost? Our fans would prefer administration/oblivion to that.

At that point, it was probably reasonable to be optimistic about the future. The big (and possibly, fatal) mistakes were firstly, a lack of attention to detail in the application and contracting processes and secondly, to assume the anticipated funds would materialise and to commit the money before we actually had it. Of course, there is always risk associated with business investment, but the Board were relying on income which was dependent on decisions taken by others over whom they had no say. In such circumstances, it is particularly important to ensure all paperwork is watertight. Clearly, it wasn't. With the financial position of the club as it was and the now apparent unwillingness of the directors to pump more money into the club, they should simply have kept things ticking over till the anticipated windfalls arrived. Instead, they sacked a manager just 6 games after having given him a new contract and replaced him with a big name ex-player with a very poor managerial record. In doing this they had to commit huge sums of money in paying off Dodds and those we went with him, whilst committing even larger sums to pay Fergusson and his team. Those who displayed this incompetence and recklessness need to be the first to dip deep into their pockets to help dig the club out of the mess for which they are responsible.

Closer to home, there is a multi-millionaire who has close connections to the club and owes his success to it. Not saying that he has a duty to step in and help, but it would be much appreciated if he did!

A God awful mess : who on earth thought it was a good idea to appoint Gardiner in the first place and why given his clearly antagonistic / authoritarian attitude did we not give him the boot much earlier ( I guess the answer to the latter question is the cost of paying him off)....?? A lot of really bad decisions / appointments have been made since 2015 : really disappointing as this is in complete contrast to how the club was run during our first 20 years. Let's hope we can avoid administration : not only for the penalty perspective but also from the way it reflects on a club.

No harm in dreamring

I seem to recall Donald Trump saying the same sort of thing on January 6th

We would all be delighted if he did but I think he will stay and get as much money as he can from the club just like the rest!

Would that include launching an orange strip on the 12th of July?

Mark is certainly a player that could be pushing promotion from the Championship or even playing in the premier league, him playing for us in League 1 would be a huge asset of that there is no doubt. It’s a real disgrace that no one from the club has contacted him and the players but not just that, it’s a tactical disaster.

Unfortunately, I do remember this and cannot decide which one looked down on fans, shareholders and sponsors more. They both looked at supporters like they were something on the bottom of their shoe after walking through a cow field.

I might be in the minority but still got a feeling Savage and others will save the day. Maybe i'm just trying to convince myself!

I think Gardiner has had aspirations for ICT to be like The Rangers. So he is currently tying up some loose ends that will put us into liquidation.

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/ridgers-hurt-by-terrible-ict-communication-352847/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook Shameful but exactly what I'd expect.

Well quite - hoist by my own petard. All sane costs, e.g., ones that don't also cause administration, just by a different route. So, poor choice of words on my part.

It's really feckin sad, Just waiting for the hangmans noose to tighten while looking hopefully at the door.

Paul Sheeran has gone bonkers now ?? But what chance has anybody got unless the current mess can be corrected and that may take more than a season.

Did anyone notice that Steve Clarke adapted Dunc's style of play against Finland ?

How about one from Savage Gardiner, that might be appropriate...

There's a good article covering it in the P&J https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/highland-league/6373182/spfl-rule-creates-another-barrier-to-highland-league-clubs/ I can only think that the Turkeys voting weren't fully up to speed on club licensing requirements and were more interested in self preservation by making it harder for Highland and Lowland league teams to come up. This is covered in the article.

Having spent a chunk of the evening reading up on it the rule requiring all 42 teams to have a bronze license was voted in unanimously by all SPFL clubs last July. If clubs felt the rule or penalty was draconian they had the opportunity to vote it down or have it ammended. That also means this is not a penalty being applied to anyone after the fact and all clubs had a year to get their house in order. The need to be insolvency event free for three years to obtain a bronze (or above) license is not a new thing. I also see within the licensing criteria that the club will have had to submit audited accounts last month in order to maintain a bronze (or above) license.

Couple of thoughts on that. 1. It’s arguably harsh on clubs (like us) who were already on the brink of administration long before the new rule came in and were trying to cut costs, as opposed to clubs who might be financially irresponsible after the new rule comes in who would surely be the target of the rule. 2. To kick clubs out of the SPFL for at least 3 years seems an incredibly harsh and disproportionate penalty. I don’t think other countries are as draconian, are they?