Scotty

Not Dunc bashing, and if you read other things I have said, I don't lay blame at his door for the mess we find ourselves in financially. However, let's not canonise him just yet. He may well have been good at PR with fans, and to be fair he does have a history of showing that positive side of his character at both Everton and everywhere else he went as a coach or manager, but lets balance that very good quality of his with the fact that he uttered not one word after relegation until a bunch of players had already found out they were out the door with not a word from their line manager or - it has to be said - the CEO or any directors. Thats the other side of the same coin. I wish him well in his future career, I thank him for the positive stuff he did (or tried to do) at the club, and for more recently taking wage cuts or working for free to try and help in some way. It is appreciated. I am sorry he was the first out the door, but he is likely to be one of the best placed to find another job, working PR for Everton perhaps, or back there in some coaching capacity rather than as a full-blown manager.

I guess we will find out! Good luck Scott.

Dunc the man seems ok (at times). dunc the manager not so much and if he was so concerned with others I still cant get that aligned with his silence over the summer when players were treated like dirt.

Dont know Scott personally although I did work with his brother for many years. Always got told he was 'highly regarded' and started his playing career at Celtic Boys club.

Ferguson said he and two coaches had been let go by the club. Other players and staff are expected to hear if they still have jobs on Thursday. Got to figure that is him, Bollan and Kellacher?

Yup - there are a thousand scenarios that would all sound plausible, and we will just have to wait and see. In the end, it's a number centric situation for the administrators rather than people focused so there will be cuts we all find unpalatable, sad and anger causing. While I personally may wish the administrator didn't do whatever it is we complain about in days to come, I know whose doors I am putting that blame in front of, and it is not those who have tried to sort out this mess (eg. Savage, Christie, Young), the staff, or the players and manager but squarely at current and former directors, CEOs and others who were tasked with good governance (and oversight) of our club. Is it 'our' club now? or should we now be saying 'the' club.

agreed. I think that is the model Charlie is talking about, but how we get there is a different question that no-one has addressed yet. If we can retain the bulk of the current squad because the administrator thinks they can keep us in League One and that will be best for creditors and potential investors, that would be a start. I guess we will find out as it unfolds over the next few days and weeks.

sorry 'bout that. To be honest, the first movie was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, but didnt want to sound so North American in the forum ... already get accused of that too much 😉. The sequels were truly terrible though. Not shown on TV here now though as the name of the club is considered culturally insensitive now and has changed to Cleveland Guardians. I think they will be trying to go for the model Charlie has mentioned a few times.... 8-8-8. Not sure what that will mean in terms of our current squad but it seems to be 8 pros, 8 academy players and 8 local based players from HL or lower leagues. As for management, I could see the scenario you describe being a potential. If they can have someone "multi-task" then they are of more value to the administrator than someone who is only employed to do one thing. I feel for the staff and players right now. Our football club is paying the price for so much mismanagement over the last 7 years (in my estimation), 5 of which were overseen by our former CEO and 2 by the CEO before him. While we all hurt and complain and moan, our mortgages and other bills are likely still taken care of. However, there are folks down there right now, players and staff, many of whom we have all known for years or that we know do a power of work, who don't know how they will make ends meet if they are let go. We should not make light of any of this, nor should those Muppets who got us into this situation in the first place. Hang your heads in f****** shame each and every one of you who oversaw this decline. Hope you can look in the mirror each morning. I am sure you will because most of you have no conscience, guilt or acceptance of any liability in this whole affair.

Yeah, press release came out this morning. short and sweet: James Stephen from BDO will host a press conference tomorrow at 12pm in the Boardroom at the Caledonian Stadium

At the end of the day, we would currently be 12 points adrift at the bottom. Thats only 4 games! especially if we can do better than the bottom team, aim here first, then aim for the team above that. It was a crap film, but there was a baseball movie called 'major league' and that kind of situation formed part of the storyline as the 'shitty' team setup to lose the league started concentrating on every game and eventually coming through. We need that kind of siege mentality, or chip on our shoulder as motivation back at ICT to finish this season still in League One, then build on that for next year.

Yup, its official. just got the press release also: Club Statement James Stephen, Malcolm Cohen and Shane Crooks at BDO have been appointed Joint Administrators of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club (Tuesday 22nd October 2024). A spokesperson at BDO said: “We can confirm a formal appointment has been made and Inverness Caledonian Thistle is now in administration. We understand this will be a difficult and uncertain time for the club, its staff, its loyal fan base and the local community. The Administrators will be in a position to provide further information and their plan to seek to secure the long term future of the Club in due course.”

Good article in the Herald. Just wish he did not use so many pictures of the ex-CEO though!

Great summary. Between Savage, Christie and Young, I think we have the nucleus of an off-field team that can take us forward. I hope they can work with the administrator(s) to sort out all the other myriad of complications I am sure will arise or have already arisen. If they can right the ship, then perhaps there is more chance of us attracting a 'benefactor' like Povlsen than some hedge fund or equity fund sharks. Worrying times ahead, and like the old Caley fanzine, I think we are definitely 'on a Life Support Machine' but we can emerge out of ICU and once again be ICT. Nothing else bears thinking about!

That was one of the first outward/public warning signs for me. We had a great media team, and Andy was doing a stellar job on the camera work. Equipment and technology were in place, and we had - I think - Ross Tokely and other guest commentators coming on some weeks so it was of interest to fans outside Inverness and certainly could have developed and matured way better than what replaced it. I had the opportunity to be one of the guinea pigs for a few games early on and it was great, but all that got pushed to the side and privately I was told at the time it was "...because it was not his idea". I don't recall who told me that, but it was a red flag for me. For me another was in 2019, not long after he started, and before the pandemic hit, that he and Ross Morrison asked for money generating ideas from the fans. I made a speculative call and email and got a bite I never expected offering assistance to the club in a manner 'to be discussed'. I passed it on to the chairman who said he would get the CEO to make the call. That call was never made despite the chairman's (initial) protestations to the contrary on the podcast that he backtracked on when Sandy pressed him on it. That ended it for me with the CEO as the guy over here was really interested and all that had to be done to initiate things was to dial 13 digits on a phone to initiate a conversation and see where it went. There are plenty of other instances and gossip about various aspects of his reign at the club and I am sure there are hundreds more I haven't heard about, but I will be circumspect on that front for now. Yeah, recent comments didn't ring true to me. First you had him say he was 'the best i could find' which is not exactly a ringing endorsement, then you had him pegged as being vilified. I never met the man (SG), I never want to meet the man, and I definitely have my own opinion about him where there is nothing positive to say, but his alleged treatment of staff, players and fans leaves no room for anyone to make an accusation of vilification on his behalf. However, I will say the rot did not start with Gardiner, it started before him, with Rae and Crook in my opinion. That is often overlooked in recent conversations, primarily I think because SG was so good at making people dislike him.

I know that SY has kept a relationship going with fans through the ST when others clammed up or publicly called out our fans the way our former CEO did. Would like to think he also dissented at a board level but no idea if that's the case or not - and as pointed out, we likely never will. Time will tell, but yes, he at least is stepping up and trying to keep things together. The others who are left, as far as I can see, have really said nothing, and in the case of Grassa, that really disappoints me. As a former player and Director of Football he should have been front and centre when relegation happened and when our players heard nothing from manager, CEO or any other directors. He should have been privately or publicly screaming from the rooftops that the players deserved better than that. As a local boy, I would also have expected to hear more from him about keeping the club alive and doing everything we can to avoiud, or as seems the case now, manage our way through, administration. As for those who have slunk off ... no comment needed.

Perhaps some people prefer to forget that through that period of time there was actually a system and process in place where successive chairmen stuck to the plan of fiscal responsibility that was initially laid down by Tulloch/DFS when we almost went down the path we are going down now in 1999/2000.

sorry - someone needs to explain this to me in simple terms? Does this mean someone has wiped out some charge hanging over our head or some banl lien that may have been in place? If so, does that mean there may be wheels turning we are not aware of?

Press Release I just received: The Directors have signed a Notice of Intention to appoint Administrators to be filed at the Court. We envisage that the proposed Administrators will be appointed on Monday or Tuesday. A plan is in place to allow the club to continue to trade whilst efforts to secure a long-term future are explored. ICTFC Board of Directors

I am actually ok with Don Lawson fronting this bid and rallying around other local folks to get something in place. He is known to be a football fan, albeit County, but I am sure his business gets plenty of income when there is a successful football team in the area - or two teams so one of them is at home every week. Thats his incentive, I am sure !! Hard to know how OK this is without knowing the names but it says former directors and current large shareolders. I would have questions if one of them was Rae as this is where our decline started in my opinion and he - and the CEOs he employed - both proved hard if not impossible to deal with.

Yeah, that's the area I am in (slightly to the right of the goals, not in amongst the absolute nutters right behind it). My section is more sedate but still stands and chants all game Thats all for another thread though. Quite a few ICT supporters I have either taken to games or who have been here on their own and even a few in the stands regularly like @luvgravy. They will be adjusting the stadium this year in preparation for the World Cup in 2026 but as far as I know, the two ends will only have temporary structures that will be taken away after the world cup. Unfortunately I also agree, but perhaps he might come back to the table if or more likely when we enter admin. He doesnt then need to deal with all the debts or people who may not have impressed him or his representatives during any talks. I live in hope as he would be our dream benefactor. This is the worry ... and very likely our current board might be tempted to take an offer, ANY offer, that staves of administration regardless of the long-term sustainability (or lack thereof) of that offer. We are not in a strong position to negotiate or ask/demand favourable terms. If we are just going to lurch from almost admin now to absolutely admin in six months' time, I would rather do it now. If we get relegated as a result then so be it, we can rebuild and refocus (hopefully) and start the journey again. If we wait six months until the end of the season and have a dalliance with an "elastoplast owner" in the meantime, then our current manager may find it impossible to motivate his troops and we get relegated anyway, then start 2025/26 -15pts in League 2 at best, with even more uncertainty about dropping into the pyramid or worse. Personally, I have to say I don't want anyone owning the club that is listed as a 'capital', 'equity' or other hedge fund like organisation. We are not a profit-making enterprise and that's typically all those are interested in. If we dont make a profit, then asset-stripping to the point of getting the land or the stadium is all that they must be interested in IMHO. I would love for Povlson to come in and spend a little bit of money based on wanting his 'local' team to do well. Get us back to the Premiership perhaps and maybe a dalliance with Europe on the odd occasion. That really has been our pinnacle up to now. The idea that the North Coast 500 route could have a start/end point at the stadium might be a way to drive more business to the stadium area (no pun intended), and perhaps adding some services for these people starting out here, or the long suggested hotel that has been talked about for one of the corners of the stadium for decades might help generate some revenue for the club. However, I also understand a lot of people have concerns over the impact of increased traffic on that route so anything tied to that may be controversial.

Would the likes of Morrison & Co. who we heard were initially willing to convert debt into equity that presumably came from unissued shares, have enough of this equity (if they now agree to it) to reach this total and be prepared to sign on the dotted line to write off their debt on that basis? If so, then presumably the £1.2m would be going to them and wiping out debt on paper rather than in real life? I cant say I can even begin to understand all the different convoluted pathways that may be involved, but like us all, I just hope they converge to the same spot which involves ICT survival.

no interest in his own views either then?

I thought that too. Yup. I do seem to recall this. Yup, it feels like The Caledonian Stadium down by the lake in early March when the temperature can drop to -20 or -30!!! Other than money which they have loads of, there are lots of parallels with ICT, not least the sporadic periods of success followed by longer periods of absolute mediocrity but thats what happens when you support your local team rather than glory hunt, I guess. I think that was the game (2022?) where Lewis Morgan scored a hat-trick and also had one disallowed. He always plays well here for some reason. I watched that from the comfort of my front room. couldn't even give my tickets away for free for that one 🙂

I think there are more subtexts here (including brinksmanship about signing over the debts as mentioned way back at the start of this process) ... but essentially, reading the article yes, that's about it. The businessperson is willing to put in 1.2m for 50.45% of the club. This might get us to the end of season. What happens after that? We can't really judge that unless we know who it is. Are we comfortable with giving a controlling stake in the club for that amount of money that will see us limp to the end of the season and then require another 3 or 4 mil to survive next season ... Personally, I really don't know what offer or person is best for the club. I just know I want my club to come out the other side, still existing, still in Inverness, and with a sustainable business model in place. If that means it takes 10+ years to reach the Premiership or the top end of the Championship then so be it.

... and this year's panto would definitely have its classic villain.