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The money he has in his piggy bank he could do the job on a voluntary basis with no wage....no....scratch that....he can't do the job anyway.

I prefer the Pele Patterson mantra of scoring more goals than the opposition than worrying about conceding. It made for far more entertaining viewing.

AS: "I will deal with the £70,000 Scot Gardiner thinks he is owed"

Alan Savage is a very astute businessman and that is we have been sadly lacking in our boardroom in recent years and he has come to rescue our club from the chancers that have been running it in recent years and I am very grateful. I am sure he will have things running better and those with the blazer and club tie will be working for the club rather than just showing face. What we need now is to sort things on the park for us fans starting with a win on Saturday.

I think that has more to do with power struggle frustrations during his stint as chairman as opposed to anything nefarious. He pretty much said that in one of the articles recently. Given what he has done in a couple of weeks in ridding us of Makwana & Gardiner and bringing both visibility and scrutiny to the eyepopping higher debt than our former CEO or board have previously announced, then I can totally understand his request for a mandate. Provided that mandate is reviewable, he continues to be open with us, and as noted, keeps the light on as he has said he will do, then I am ok with it. Bottom line personally is that I would rather give him the keys for 3 years than to some random wannabee internet influencer, and giving him full power for three years is two less than we gave it to our former CEO for, with, I suspect, far more governance in place and hopefully less unread emails. If I were to add a caveat, then perhaps it would be to say that any sale of the club to a third party has to go to an AGM/EGM for ratification. I don't think that is unreasonable as we don't want another 'fait accompli' with another Makwana but I also don't think that would happen given AS's ties to the local community, to local football, to youth development and to Caley Thistle.

I think AS has been very clever in how he has handled the SG situation. He’s made it clear he, not the club, is fronting it. He’s made it clear how badly he feels SG was performing and the poor decisions he was making. Making things like 7000 unread e-mails public highlights that there were deficiencies in his running of the club. It’s all been done to make it clear to SG that AS will meet fire with fire, funding it himself, and that there will only be one winner, which will not be SG. Surely, despite his well discussed ego issues, not even SG is foolish enough to take that fight on. If he is, AS will take him to the cleaners. And why should AS pay SG some or all of the £70k when he knows it would be much better used taking the club forward? Good on him!

Looking at it from a different viewpoint, could the councillors you refer to have stopped people already with money lining their own pockets even more? The way this has all played out, I would be very surprised if the supposed guardians of our club had any intention of using the proceeds to clear any of the clubs debts and use it as the rescue package they claimed it would be. It was only a matter of time before the club ended up on it's knees regardless of the many fishy deals these chancers tried to implement. Perhaps we should applaud these councillors for bringing forward what inevitably was going to happen anyway and bringing everything out in the fore unwittingly. I'm not saying they knew or had this foresight but regardless whether it be this deal or not, there would have had to have been one last final failed venture and this was it, the council just happened to be rapped up into it and are too easy to blame. It wouldn't have been them causing people to lose their jobs, it would have been our boards fault. It was one failed deal too many that these guardians had used the clubs name to try and fill their own accounts until they finally realised the club couldn't be used as a credit negotiator anymore. They were exposing the club to all the liabilities and not themselves, just remember that. It's happened so many times over, in the past at various clubs and will happen again.

I'd be very surprised if SG did that. Was it AS who first used the word "forensic"? That word has a specific meaning. SG and the rest of the Board will be keeping their heads down until AS gives the "all clear". Or maybe he won't, just to keep them in order

Indeed. Savage is blunt and straight talking which is refreshing after 7 years of being treated like mushrooms (or worse). I am sure he too has heard all the rumours doing the rounds about various things and will seek out the details of any that hold water, exposing any shady deals that may exist or have existed in the process.

I have no sympathy for a wealthy person taking a pay cut. He is not the only one. Has he forgot his role in the teams relegation???? Players had to take a contractual cut and I’m sure the coaching staff and others have had a reduction in wages too. AS had made cuts all over. DF trying to make it look like he is the only one having to take a cut!!! He is a narcissist with no grasp on the reality of where he is. Get Him Gone !!!!!!

Couldn't agree more - it HAS to be entertaining. Otherwise just get the result from the BBC at 5 o'clock When my thoughts start turning to "I wonder what's for tea tonight" then I'm not being entertained. Happened quite a lot last season!

I get your logic but can’t help feeling that if AS was not taking the approach he is, SG would be much more likely to take the matter to court. A bit like defending from the front to prevent the attack taking place at all. I, like many others, am enjoying it all

A mate of mine was a youth coach at Elgin and saw a fair bit of this lad last season. Says he's a cracking defender and a stand out in the Elgin team. Sounds like a decent acquisition but for me it's almost pointless bringing players in while the current management team remain in situ. That being said a striker has got to be a priority before the weekend.

That’s a kick in the teeth to our youth players. Why aren’t we developing our own players instead of Ross County’s ?

He appears to have sociopathic tendencies so he will want his day in court just to feed his ego. A decision that will no doubt bite him in his ass and further expose him as the loser that he is. His days in football are very much numbered. I would say AS is very much looking forward to butting heads with Gardiner.

If I was Gardiner, who reported £588k losses (the reality being £1.7m), I would avoid attempting to sue people or even trying to screw £70k out of the club, because I suspect the forensics have revealed some issues that may warrant further official scrutiny. If Gardiner has any naus he will slope off quietly, keep his head down, and try to save what is left of his career ... I suspect he will now struggle to get a job managing a public toilet. Gardiner being Gardiner and devoid of any real intelligence other than sociopathic tendencies, will no doubt want his day in court. From the standpoint of the battery farm, I am wondering how the said Councillors are feeling given that they almost cost local people their jobs. I hope the people of Inverness remember it during election time. Those clowns have truly shot themselves in the foot. I would love to see them lose their seats. I for one will be reminding people. It does make you wonder if Gardiner had not been involved if the battery farm would have gone through smoothly? I do hope that over the coming few months AS pulls all these clowns apart as I suspect he will. As long as he keeps being transparent then the clowns will be running from the fear of being exposed. Something I would relish seeing.

Savage has gone through these boardroom chancers and supposed captains of Highland industry like a dose of the salts. He could clearly see through Gardiner from day one any it's fair to say that any man who loathes Gardiner with the unbridled venom he spits out in the media is frankly a prince among men. I wish our former CEO the very best of luck in his efforts to extort a further £70k out of the club and his next role in the football industry.

Personally I thought AS looked, (understandably) absolutely shattered on the news today. I hope he takes a relaxing break as soon as he feels that the time is right, because the last few weeks would be exhausting for anyone and he really deserves it.

Championship League 1 League 2

Thems was the days! Absolute joy to watch Pele’s teams, go 3 down and still believe you could win…

The Courier is reporting that Ferguson has taken a 40% wage cut, from £2000 to £1200 per week, and that when he joined he was on £3000 per week.

As i said yesterday, I think he would relish butting heads with our former CEO. The quote that he would "deal with the £70K that he thinks he is due" is almost like drawing battle lines. I would however suggest that AS likely has a few rabbits that he can pull out of the forensic audit hat, so to speak. Oh, I don't know... You would think so wouldn't you. 7000 unread emails, existing technology that is working well replaced with something that doesn't (pixellot), strips ordered in an exponentially higher quantity than needed from Puma. Reported losses exponentially higher than stated, submission of accounts delayed, delayed AGMs etc. Does all of this (and more) pass the sniff test? Does anyone (else) benefit from any of the outwardly strange looking deals? I am sure AS has and will continue to look into these kinds of anomalies that go back to 2019. If I were our former CEO, I would be more worried about AS/ICT suing him than the other way around. However, I am with Big Cherly on this one. Get some agreement, close this sorry 5-year chapter quickly, and move on. We can move upwards, and our former CEO can look for employment with 78 Ventures or another club that is looking for his particular skillset.

Yes CbP, tend to agree but I would prefer AS would not go down this ‘road’. I would prefer a settlement was reached and we paid SG to disappear quickly (he will reappear somewhere else {England} i’m sure). My reasons are: # SG will want to keep his name in the limelight (Kahwana like), so his name and image of a ‘hard and demanding businessman’ in the sport world is ‘out there’. There are enough like minded individuals out there that care only about siphoning money out of clubs (Glazers spring to mind), that admire these attributes. It wouldn’t surprise me any if some future connection or venture with good old Ketan appears. # I would like AS to give his full attention to making ICTFC an attractive and sound investment for an appropriate and long term group or individual. (Anders Povlsen my ideal type). Wasting energy over a long drawn out legal battle in Court dilutes AS’s time on this matter. It also serves SG purpose above. # The costs for fighting any legal case submitted by SG will only go one way, and that’s up!! I can imagine the fun lawyers would have insisting each of the over 7,000 unopened emails are debated over in the minuscule detail to defend some abstract and completely irrelevant clause of corporate law. Cut our losses now and ‘heave’ SG. Give him the 70K to ‘get rid’! # Any legal case will inevitably drag the members of the Board into the quagmire. ‘I said this to XX, and he agreed’. No ‘I only said this’, and thought it was clear what I meant ….’ It’s just a mess waiting to hear the starting gun. God knows there are a pile (if not all) of the KK Board backers I’d gladly dump now, but I just can’t face more of these people pleading insanity!! # Lastly and more importantly for me, it’s time to close the door on the past 5-7 years of incompetence and self-interest, and move onto a new and hopefully brighter chapter of the club’s future. Let’s pay SG his 30 silver coins to see the back of him for good. Can’t think of a better way of insulting SG than starting with a victory on Saturday.

I watched the full council hearing on the link. Yes our application was far from perfect but they were clueless

Ffs.

If Connal can match the 3 goals he scored last season, he’s likely to end up amongst our top scorers!

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the 'Johndo Away' day out to Kelty on Saturday. Thank you to D&E for looking after us, to everyone who travelled (including the virtual travellers) and the fans in the social club at Kelty who all played a part. We are delighted to confirm a donation of £500 in his memory. Memories are something we will all have plenty of and he will indeed forever be the Immortal Howdenender.

Surely Alan Savage is in a very good position now to run this club until 2027 as he seemed to mention a day or two ago and I for one am here for it . That man must be a hero to EVERY fan of this club .

It’s been a good day!

Maybe he can pay him with a couple of thousand over-ordered shirts

Indeed. Yvonne Crook was a disaster of a CEO also.

If ever there were any doubt about our former CEO ....

Yes, thanks Celtic1Caley3, for posting that link about Gardner's record at both Hearts and Dundee. We are well shot of him, and just in the nick of time. At least, many of us feel more comfortable about Savage being back at the helm, if only temporarily. Now we need to win a few matches and learn how to score goals again. Whether we can do that with Ferguson still here is doubtful, but I'm willing to be proved wrong. Onwards and upwards.

We need to remember that Savage is only a consultant at this point and everything still needs signed off by the board and that includes how they deal with Gardiner. It sits a little uneasy with me that Savage is looking for total control of the club via a mandate from shareholders as opposed to through own shareholding. As much as I appreciate what Savage is doing and have no reason to distrust him I'm not sure total control sitting with one person is a wise move regardless of who that person is. There has been talk in the past of Savage waiting for admin to get control on the cheap and it feels like he's doing that now but without the official admin bit. It may be happening for all the right reasons and the alternative is/was a lot worse. It just has a wee hint of being power trippy.

It was a pure coincidence that this evening’s announcement from the club that a solution had been found happened to drop on social media around five minutes after the BBC report on the crisis announcement went out on Reporting Scotland, and there must just have been time to squeeze a quick line in before the programme went off air at 7pm. Alan Savage’s “six days from administration” statement this morning seems to have had a dramatic effect on those it was targeted at. One other thought … AS hasn’t exactly been backward at coming forward with criticism of Gardiner. I actually wonder how devastated or otherwise AS would be if the allegedly litigious SG felt minded to raise a defamation action…. which of course would mean that five years of goings on at Caley Thistle would emerge in detail in a very public forum indeed.