Scotty

Scotty: QOS @ 1.91 CDN Girl: Arbroath @ 1.83 SOS: Alloa @ 2.00

Scotty HT: 1-0 FT: 3-1 1st Scorer ICT: Bray 1st Scorer Opp: Allan Crowd: 1765 CDN Girl HT: 0-0 FT: 2-0 1st Scorer ICT: Gilmour 1st Scorer Opp: Brown Crowd: 1812 SOS HT: 1-1 FT: 2-1 1st Scorer ICT: Mckay 1st Scorer Opp: Mcclure Crowd: 1799

You know me Don. I have nothing but respect for Kenny. I did not like the way it ended for him. He was caught between a rock and a hard place and resigned the day we got relegated. I was there that day (unfortunately) and my son was one of the two mascots. I dont think Kenny got run off for running the club that way however, it was more to do with the fact that he put too much faith in Richie Foran and was ultimately too loyal to him when results did not work out. Loyalty and faith in your employees are wonderful qualities in most businesses but apprently not in football as we know. Being an honourable man, he resigned when we got relegated as he knew the buck stopped with him as the Chairman. He is and always will be regarded in my eyes as one of the best Chairmen we ever had, and in my opinion, those that followed him began the demise that led us to where we are today.

Was glad to hear the Dougie M was around yesterday. I know that there have been well publicised "differences of opinion" when it comes to DM, DFS and AS and likely others too, but the three I mention there have all done their best to move us forward in the past and its nice to think all three may have some role in moving us forward in the future. Even if it's only a tacit nod that AS is the man to take us forward by giving up shares, it's still an important milestone and validation of AS. In October we thought we might be playing amateur league at the Bught so I will take that! I like the location but the stadium itself has never been completely suitable. We went for the one big stand, hoping for big things I guess, that would fund the construction of three other similar large stands in years to come. Perhaps we should have gone for 4 smaller stands from the off and create a compact but great little ground for our needs. Thats not a criticism of who went before, but an observation purely from hindsight. Indeed. I think if you take bits and pieces from various articles, you can work out what bits of the plan might be. Caledonian Stadium will be vacated in the future with a plan to move to UHI. Timescale to be determined based on how this can be financed. Current stadium land to be repurposed / subleased to generate income for the club and/or AS and investors either as a one-off or on an ongoing basis as part of an expanded border to the freeport. Off field expenditure to be curtailed and reverted back to a model of fiscal responsibility. Club to be sustainable and aim to break even as a mid-level championship side each season. Youth system to be given more prominence (and funding). The hope being that we not only develop our own talent but also can generate income if and when these players move to other clubs either through transfers or development fees. Have other players come in with a point to prove. Charlie alluded to this, and we have seen quite a few of these players over the years who turned into club icons. Those who may be overlooked elsewhere or are coming back from injury and have a point to prove. ICT can be a shop window, or like some, a place they end up making home. Re-establish relationships and reputation with other clubs so we can get loans of the calibre of Alfie Bavidge and others on a yearly basis. Show we are player focused in terms of looking after their wellbeing which we lost sight of in the last few years.

To take away from all the football talk and switch subjects for a few minutes ..... I am always on the lookout for good deals to/from Inverness in case I get a good deal to visit home. Sometimes this includes deals from Inverness to elsewhere and this one came into my inbox today so sharing it in case anyone is interested ... Inverness to Singapore on BA for £468 all through May and June. Connections don't look too bad, less than a couple of hours in some cases, and the airline website is only £20 more than the recommended booking sites. https://www.secretflying.com/posts/inverness-scotland-to-singapore-for-only-366-roundtrip/ Most dates are only around a week duration, but one or two of the listings can be up to 12 days .... If you play around with dates on Skyscanner or Kayak you may find better. 15-26 May looks a good one when i did a quick search.

A refreshing topic. Not out of the woods yet, but certainly very positive on the surface. With Charlie Christe perhaps having the interim tag removed from his title, and I personally hope that this is the case, we would have a CEO with intimate knowledge of the club from all areas of operation from the commercial side to the team management side and of course including youth development. Charlie is utterly invested in the club on a level far more than financially and deeply cares for it as any interview you hear shows this. The article I posted in another thread also shows he has a plan to blend youth and experience and to try to get the most sustainable and engaged squad possible. People wondered what he could do for the club after he stepped down as manager. I think this is his role. https://archive.ph/3gzWH With Kells at the helm as manager, we have done well. He has quietly learned his trade under multiple other managers both good and bad and hopefully taken the good stuff into his arsenal. His press conferences are a breath of fresh air, and fan engagement is higher than it has been for years. Although I have not worked it out, his points-per-game ratio must surely be up there among the best so long may that continue. Couple that with the circumstances he is operating under and to not go with him as manager would be sheer lunacy. Billy as his assistant is also a bit of a no-brainer. I am also good with Alan Savage as preferred bidder. Again, we have someone with strong local ties and a desire to see the club come out of the current malaise. Somone who has been involved before and has shown a genuine affection for the club. We may have questions along the way, not least over the 100% ownership statement, or other mechanics of any offer, but no-one else has seriously thrown their hat (and their money) into the ring either on an interim basis like he did, or with a plan for the future and without him this entire conversation might have been moot. Pretty sure there will be many bumps in the road both on and off field in the ensuing days, weeks and months, but at least that roadway seems to be more visible now.

Hope so. Also liked this article that may have passed by a few folk: https://archive.ph/3gzWH

It is not behind a login or paywall for me but pretty much Charlie Christie urging shareholders to accept the offer from AS. Seems to be addressing this to smaller shareholders as well as larger ones, but it does have to be noted that - as a small shareholder - no-one has officially asked me to give up my shares. Is that simply a fait accompli? or do i need to say yes (along with everyone else). If so, nothing from BDO or anyone else to ask that question. https://archive.ph/psR3J

As I said, I like the overall idea. The beauty of it is the simplicity, but that simplicity could also be its downfall as the danger is that it leaves potential loopholes if someone did want to try and exploit things. Would have to be all wrapped up really tightly in watertight articles and rules. Regardless - something like this would not be doable within the timeframe AS proposed so add me to the list of people worried about what happens next. I am happy to give him a lot of leeway as I have said, but uncomfortable with the 100% thing.

I kind of like the simplicity of this. Unfortunately, can't see it happening as it could spiral into complication quite easily .... Would whoever bails us out accept that they are bailing out 100% of the club and only getting 49% in return? The 'sponsor' would then need to be quite considerable if we place the same sort of value on their 49% compared to what the investor(s) paid or continue to pay. Can we attract that level of sponsorship on a yearly basis? or is it the case that the sponsorship voting rights would become further fragmented if we have two or more 'major' sponsors? I guess that could be doable given that the overall total would be 49%. Finally, would a sponsor or major investor try to influence the remaining 2% in some way, so they are guaranteed 51%? As simple as the suggestion is, and I do still like the idea of simple, I can see too many pitfalls

Scotty: QOS @ 2.25 CDN Girl: Kelty / Dumbarton draw @ 3.6 SOS: Stenny @ 1.85

Scotty HT: 1-1 FT: 1-2 1st Scorer ICT: Mckay 1st Scorer Opp: Fyvie Crowd: 653 CDN Girl HT: 0-1 FT: 0-2 1st Scorer ICT: Bray 1st Scorer Opp: Emslie Crowd: 501 SOS HT: 0-0 FT: 0-1 1st Scorer ICT: Gilmour 1st Scorer Opp: Lobban Crowd: 575

It does. I am one of those people who wrote off my paltry £250 investment the day I made it. I never expected any profit, dividend, or influence in the decision-making process, it was simply a way to own a bit of "my" club. At AGMs, most were boring and uncontentious, so you simply voted to confirm whatever the board were suggesting. I can think of only a handful that ended in any form of vote where you actually had to debate and make a decision. In return I felt obligated to do my part and gave the club thousands of hours for free in IT/Web support, website design stuff etc. and where expenses were incurred, the club was asked to cover it at cost, no profit involved. We were in it together. The biggest thing for me was - at some point - to transfer the shares to my son who is the next generation of ICT fan and who I hope will have that same connection to the club and city despite not being born in Inverness. Owning a piece of that club, even if it is 0.0000625% is a part of that, along with timing our visits (where possible) to coincide with the football season and making sure we can get to a few games, restock at the club shop, and generally fill up his ICT cup so to speak. He loved meeting the players when he was a mascot, he loved chatting with - as he puts it - "Ryan Christie's dad", getting on the pitch while Tommy C said I could not, holding various cups thanks to Kenny Cameron, CaleyD and Davie Balfour, and he loved training with the players on the kid's day at the stadium a couple of times. He's got all the Real Madrid gear, all the Toronto FC gear, but he still goes off to school proudly wearing his ICT puffer jacket (which we bought in multiples sizes a few years ago)... His ICT top (another we bought in multiple sizes) will get pulled out again once the weather is better, and if and when the black strip ever becomes available, we may just have to grab a few of these too (including one for dad). None of this adds up to the financial backing that a single one of our chairmen has probably ever done, but multiply it by a lot of shareholders and the value soon becomes apparent. If we can't retain our personal shares, then that's another reason why I personally feel we must protect the Supporters Trust. It may be the only way to have a voice, however quiet and minority in scale.

I will refer to my signature and the quote from AS himself .... "It’s not a train set – it’s a proud member of the SPFL" : Alan Savage [30/07/2024]" If ANYONE - and that includes AS - is treating ICT as a power play or a plaything like that proverbial train set then that is not right and is not acceptable. Like everyone else here I want what is best for our club, but also like most, I am just a normal working guy, and just can't afford to 'do the right thing' by the club in that way. I will do what I can in terms of shares, donations or merchandise purchases, but I cant match what Savage, Morrison, Sutherland et all have done in the past or may do in future. Currently, I will give AS a fair bit of leeway as he has stepped up and put money where his mouth is (again). All of those power-brokers who were at that meeting have similarly done their part at one time or another including RM who we know made some bad choices but still sunk seven figures into the club. The minutiae and semantics of that is for another topic. There are also a lot of other instances over the years where previous leaders of our club have done unseen or unknown things to make sure costs were controlled at the club, picked up by someone else, or paid out of their own pockets. I can see AS' point to an extent in wanting control. When he was chairman previously, he did not have that and there were well documented power struggles and personality conflicts that basically led to his resignation. I know I am over-simplifying that part of our history, but I can see him not wanting the same scenario this time around if he is trying to save the club and ends up meeting 10 different dissenting voices each time we try to take a step forward. I have reservations over the 100% ownership thing unless it comes with some form of protection and succession plan should he himself lose interest, or possibly more likely, that as he ages, he is less able to manage the day to day running of a football club and those who take over from him are uninterested (the Gretna scenario). If 'clearing the decks' so to speak is simply a mechanism to tidy up and remove current shares and debts and then to offer these to a new owner, or as a brand new public share issue, then that's more acceptable but as someone said, the devil will be in the details and we dont have those details. For me however, the 10% voting right of the Trust should be non-negotiable. Their relevance and value has always been questioned in some corners over the years, but there is no denying what they have also done during this time, the value it brings, and hopefully that they will continue to do provided they have some say and some skin in the game... The other thing here is to wonder about the end game. Something that sticks in my head is the mention of relocation to UHI. Personally, I am not against this as such. I love the Caledonian Stadium, but if we are honest, and look at it in terms of practicality, the stadium is not in the best location, and a smaller purpose-built stadium, with training facilities, shared with UHI and perhaps sponsored by donors to UHI or corporate sponsors, and with shared costs makes a lot of sense provided it could be financed somehow. This would free up the current site for other activities if that parcel of land could be added to the freeport. I have no idea if any of this is possible, but provided any activity in this area was for the benefit of the club and secured a future for us then I would not be automatically opposed. I am not opposed to any consortium or person making a profit from this kind of venture, provided the club gets its fair share and does not get ripped off. The city is not so big that UHI is too far away. The transport links are ok, and if there were public transport on matchdays then this makes it just as convenient for some (and inconvenient for others) as the Caledonian stadium. Time will tell whether we are erecting a statue of AS and other benefactors in front of the Caledonian Stadium (wherever it is) or if he is written into history with some of the others who are on our personal sh** lists because we regard them as having tried to kill our club. For me, the club would already be dead thanks to the actions or inactions of others by now, so AS is still on my statue list and not my **** list! I really hope it stays that way!

Scotty HT: 0-0 FT: 0-1 1st Scorer ICT: Bray 1st Scorer Opp: Brooks Crowd: 1466 CDN Girl HT: 1-0 FT: 1-1 1st Scorer ICT: Brannan 1st Scorer Opp: Allan Crowd: 1314 SOS HT: 1-1 FT: 1-2 1st Scorer ICT: Gilmour 1st Scorer Opp: Kennedy Crowd: 1566

Scotty: Alloa @ 1.8 CDN Girl: Arbroath @ 2.0 SOS: Stenny @ 1.75

i would have thought happily was a more appropriate word.

Banter over bile any day of the week

I'll settle for 8th, anything else is a bonus.

Where is the idea that it is not? I guess we have to wait and see... unless you have the inside track on this somehow? I think we all acknowledge this has been the case. However, desperate times call for desperate measures and be honest with yourself... did you ever think 10 of them would be around the same table in the same room at any point? Its brinksmanship, pure and simple. Some may be so deep in they can't afford to lose hope of getting some return, while others may be waiting for an opportunity to see who blinks first. The announcement last week kind of tells them all that this s*** is real and whether anyone blinks or not they better get their finger out and work together, if not for the good of the club, then to avert their own investments from swirling down the drain. Many of us will lose £250 in any buyout, and lets be honest, if you did not regard that as a donation 30 years ago you were fooling yourself. Its irritating but unlikely to pull any of us down. However, for those with a large shareholding then the outlook may be different. Is a percentage of any sale of the club where you get something preferable to bankruptcy and little to no reimbursement? Can you do it even if you have to collaborate with someone you perhaps dont want to? Again, I have no idea what is true and what is not, who is in and who is out, who are best buds these days and who still hates each other's guts, I just know that somewhere in the near future we will all look around and decide who falls into which category ....

Two key points for me also. Whatever we do, we need to live within our means or develop revenue streams to increase those means. It was not ideal when we had to have a cup run each year to make the books balance, but that was a hell of a lot better than recent past. Can't think of anyone well-known off the top of my head. I know one of the MLS teams was interested in investing in 2019, but that ship has sailed, and they not only have new ownership structure in terms of shareholders but also all new backroom team in place including team president. One of the others (Vancouver) is up for sale right now and may end up moving or being bought out locally and the other has an Uncle Roy type figure running the show but I can't see it being him. Other teams outside of MLS (eg. CPL or USL) would not have the finances as far as I would be aware. Ryan Reynolds of course is Canadian, but I think he is busy with Wrexham and Deadpool movies. Having said that, there are plenty of other rich Canadians floating around. Unfortunately, I am not one of them

I am going to say they might have fallen into two camps ... The 'Makwana' camp where the idea/ambition of owning a football club was larger than the capability or bank balance to actually do so and rejected by BDO as a non-starter. The Realistic camp who may have had the funds but pulled back when they saw what a cluster**** our situation was. Former directors owed large sums, fractured shareholder base with many small and large shareholdings, loans with security needing to be paid back, questions over land access or ownership of leases. Many people would just pass (very) quickly by at that point. That leaves us with where we are now ... no external buyers or billionaire rescuers, but a potential consortium of local people who have all done things for ICT over the last 30 years. We (or they) can have a pissing contest to see who did it best, and we will all come up with different answers. Alternatively, we can hope that for once, all (or most) of these people will work for the good of ICT to get us back on an even keel. I would love to see Sutherland, Savage and Mcgillivary put their varying business experiences together for ICT. One drove our formation, another instilled financial stability and fiscal responsibility, and the third brought some flair first time around and without doubt prevented us from already being out of existence more recently. ... as they say, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" and that seems to fit well here.

Scotty HT: 0-0 FT: 1-0 1st Scorer ICT: Mckay 1st Scorer Opp: Gentles Crowd: 1788 CDN Girl HT: 1-1 FT: 2-2 1st Scorer ICT: Bray 1st Scorer Opp: Donnelly Crowd: 1655 SOS HT: 1-0 FT: 2-1 1st Scorer ICT: Gilmour 1st Scorer Opp: Rankin Crowd: 1955

We are holding on by the skin of our teeth because Alan Savage has (rapidly emptying) deep pockets, as have other potential members of that consortium. If we assume it would be made up of some combination of the 10 people who were around that table and the couple that were not, then all of these people have put money into the club at one point or another, but I don't think any of them are so wealthy that the taps would never run dry. Many of them have led the board successfully, but in my personal opinion, two of them expedited the mess we got into over the last 6 or 7 years either by direct action, or, just as culpable, by inaction. There are also so many well publicised inter-personal choke points in the relationships of these people that a successful structure seems nigh on impossible. IF we could get all of these people to agree and to partake in the rebirth and rebuild of ICT then we could indeed be very positive, but for me, for now, I will take it one step at a time hoping that we get back to a scenario where financial responsibility and sustainability were the watchwords and ethos of the club. As for the structure of the team, I will trust in Kells and the backroom team to put the best team we can afford on the park. It may not be exactly what we want in one way or another, and you will never please everyone, but that's for the football management team to worry about. If its a team full of local boys coming up through the ranks of the academy then that's great, but if it involves some loanees or some veteran journeymen then that too has its benefits. How many points have Alfie Bavidge goals won us since he came in for example? The best teams have a combination of all types and source of players. 8-8-8 may be the aim, but if its 6-10-8 or 7-7-10 or something like that, I am not going to lose sleep over it. The more important thing is that we pull together, re-establish our identity, and don't lose focus. Our best days as a club came when we had that identity, ethos and mindset.