Scotty

52 apparently:

A6-RJZ is registered as a Boeing 737-700 BBJ owned by RoyalJet Premium Private Aviation from UAE. They have a fleet size of 8 aircraft and this one first went into service in 2003. If the other jets are the same, then they too might be from the same company. More likely one of our wealthy landowners in the area than an ICt investor.

This !

If only the Courier had asked the question about who the "we" is. If that includes Scot Gardiner then its pissing against the wind. This interview gives a few more high-level details and is more positive than anything that has gone before A few select excerpts.

Even if not in the Freeport area, then going by the map, it is pretty close to two parts that are in the area. The HC and the Freeport Consortium both show a wide area where "benefits will be felt" which basically involved someone with a compass drawing a big circle that encompassed Inverness, Cromarty, and Ardersier (which joined later than the screenshot below). I am assuming that the "benefits felt" comment was what our CEO latched onto previously and stated it would bring big benefits to the club without being able to expand on the details. But it would not allow him to check off one of the things on his bucket list "owning a football club" however briefly, or however tenuously on paper.

Sorry Robert - the response is nonsense. Its pat you on the head stuff and telling the ST to go away so that SG might consider inviting you to the party. My question there is why SG is still at the party? He was supposed to go home a long time ago! The land is key here. I hope I am wrong, but I cant help feeling that the club is something to run down and make extinct so that everything on that site can be bulldozed and the remainder of the 99-year lease flipped to someone for loads of money based on the designation within the freeport area*. A freeport area, close to major transit hubs, sea lanes and an airport. The Jersey connection makes it intriguing. Who is the shadow behind the front man? Is it someone local to Inverness, or known to the club who quietly wants their hand on the land but to remain faceless for fear of personal or business reprisal? or as speculated elsewhere, is it someone who wants to remain in the background for other reasons. Its all too murky and sketchy for me. Even if things are on the up-and-up then will any of this pass the sniff test with the SFA/UEFA for the owner to be fit to run a club? *I was corrected on another thread about the stadium not being on freeport land. This appears to be correct, but reading the freeport website, it also makes reference to another area "joining" the consortium. With all the corporate doublespeak floating around right now, is it not outside the realms of possibility that the consortium could add more members?

This is my main concern. If Gardiner is still in post, then we are doomed. His departure, as soon as possible, must be non-negotiable. You have the likes of Alan Savage saying they will still pump £100K into the youth side but only on condition that the CEO does not get his hands on a penny of it. Thats a pretty damning indictment. Thats before you even talk to staff, players, ex-players, local businesspeople, sponsors or fans. Whilst my initial thoughts on the "new owner" are not positive, and I have watched and shared the various videos and articles, I will reserve full judgement until something is presented. I remain to be convinced that this is not all smoke and mirrors with an ultimate end goal to do a grab on the land the stadium is situated on with a view to flipping the remainder of the lease for large profit based on its designation within the freeport area. Someone that self-admittedly could find no information on the club on google (there are approx. 1.3m hits when you google Inverness Caledonian Thistle by the way) does not strike me as being in this for philanthropic or altruistic reasons. Yes, that's exactly what I thought too. corporate equivalent of "**** off".

And the club are now doubling down .... Panos is the new chairman and looks forward to working with the new owner. PRESS RELEASE The Board of Directors of Inverness Caledonian Thistle have appointed Mr Panos Thomas as their Interim Chairman as they focus on completing a deal to welcome a new majority shareholder to the club. Mr Thomas is a retired orthopaedic surgeon and tutor specialising in sports and knee injuries, who joined the Board as a Director in December 2022. Mr Thomas is in regular contact with Ketan Makwana, the Executive Chairman of Seventy7 Ventures, the UK-based sports entertainment and leisure company, who have had a formal offer to acquire the majority of the club’s shareholding and voting rights accepted by the Board. Mr Thomas said: “I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to chair the Board of Directors at this critical time in the 30-year history of the club. It is a big responsibility but one which I am relishing." “I have been hugely impressed by the drive, energy and vision of Mr Makwana and look forward to continuing to work with him in the coming weeks as our legal representatives discuss the fine detail needed to complete the deal." Mr Thomas moved to the Highlands in 2012 when he became a season ticket holder and recently moved from Nairn to reside in Inverness. Appointed Vice-Chairman is Mr Scott Young, who is a former football coach and referee with almost 30 years experience as a veterinary surgeon. Mr Young is the most recently appointed Director of the club, joining in August 2023. Statement Ends

Like a bunch of other supporters, I have the minimum shareholding. My £250 was a donation as far as I am concerned and as you point out, it's a football club, so you are not expecting any return on that. Ever. It was simply a way to feel you were involved, had a stake in the club, not necessarily in the running of it, and not as an official, but as a way to declare your loyalty and affinity for the club. In the same way as being a season ticket holder, a sponsor or buying merchandise gives you the warm and fuzzies knowing you are helping keep our club afloat. If I were to pass these shares on, then there are only two destinations. My son (most likely) or (if he was not interested) to someone like the ST who continue to work for the good and benefit of the club ... absolutely not to some random guy from LinkedIn using made up words and corporate BS to, IMHO, cover all of this in a layer of grubby plausibility (if you are gullible enough). Not sure if it is legal or not, but I would like the council to come out and say that if the club defaults on the lease or ceases to be a going concern, that the remainder of the 99 year lease on the land is null and void. If the ultimate aim is to get their hands on the land, within the freeport, then something like this may send any opportunistic venture capitalist / asset stripper scuttling away.

Jeez-O - so many valid points in there that even edited its still most of the article. Thank You Alan Savage for telling it like it is and for Duncan Shearer for highlighting the questions that need to be asked. Also speaks volumes that he makes it quite clear in his interview on more than one occasion that he doesn't want to deal with our CEO and neither do the fans. At least these two get it, along with the supporters. We have to keep the social media pressure up so that whoever takes the reins of our club passes the sniff test. The lyrics of this football-loving Proclaimers song seem appropriate with just a little adjustment.

behind a paywall for me unfortunately.

We have been a little busy today 😉

Should also watch this one first ....

I would go for some young and hungry manager with a history of being able to scrap for results in a lower league. I don't know who that is as I have not followed League One/Two or the HL for years. Would also not be against the names mentioned so far (or other former players who may have moved into coaching already), but that would have to be starting with a clean slate as we would not want off-field shenanigans to tarnish the reputation of one of our playing heroes. In the case of Ryan Esson, and possibly others, I think a complete clear-out from dugout to boardroom would be required before any of our alumni would take it on. I simply cant see Charlie taking it on for the reasons specified when he gave it up before.

What the fans see .... What the board see (Warren Buffet in case you are wondering)

We should not be paying this. ever. Relocation costs, perhaps. subsidising accommodation costs for a few weeks or months, maybe. But not permanent arrangements for multiple people all the time, especially those on six figures who can absolutely afford to pay their own way. You want to play for ICT then like any other job normal people have, you pay your own living costs out of your wages. Still dont see how Kelty would have worked ... ok, you don't pay accommodation for a few incoming central belt journeymen, but you would still have to do that for the 1st team players who have established homes and family in Inverness, and who you expect to travel to Kelty to train with the rest of the first team. So there's some digs, and transportation every week regardless. I also dont buy the cost bull**** about Inverness, but - as someone who rents accomodation in Inverness reasonably regularly in the past - it depends on what you are looking at. Are you buying a 10-bed property for the club to run (as someone suggested), putting them up in guest houses (as we used to do in our lower league days), or having them take a room at an expensive hotel (or an equally expensive Air BnB). Also ... If you don't expect the Inverness based players to travel to Kelty, then you are creating a two-tier system and splitting your coaching staff also meaning you either have to hire more coaches for one or both locations. Thats before you ever think about the costs to train in two places (neither are free I assume) and the loss of team spirit by having 1/2 a team at either ends of the country. There were so many flaws or arguments you could have on both sides and with a mute board it becomes a moot point now that this Walter Mitty-esque idea has been shelved and we have moved onto the next one. I am sure we would be surprised at who might throw a hat into the ring. Right now, I would take someone whose credentials including winning on championship Manager. Got to be better than the tactics on display at the moment.

Yes, jury out for me too although I am coming from a position far further down the negative scale. The CEO has to be held to his resignation, that is non-negotiable for me as a (tiny) shareholder. A lot of questions and I am running low on benefit of doubt where our board are concerned. If we hadn't reached for a multitude of other 'Hail-Mary' solutions over the last few years, I might have a more open mind, but after pixellot, concert, park-and-ride, and the battery farm, the monorail video from the Simpsons is all i can see. Please prove me wrong!

Take your choice.

In my day job I have been involved in IT procurement for 20+ years. I have encountered many companies in that time who have been acquired by "equity partners" or "venture capitalists" and can think of precisely none that went upwards in all that time. They either trade using the good name of a company while exponentially increasing prices which then causes the firm to crash and burn as customers leave, or they simply asset strip from day one. We don't exactly have a name that's tradeable and we have little to no assets to strip so I am not sure what is in it for this company.

Short answer is they can't on the basis of what we have been told so far. I think this may be the club using the wrong language again in the same way as the manager uses "new owner" instead of "investor". Charles Bannerman has explained it well a couple of times alongside some number crunching. Major shareholder, yes, majority shareholder, no. Nope. I had a look, and instant (personal) impression is that the company seem more Del Trotter than Jeff Bezos. Varying entrepreneurial enterprises over the years, advisor to PM in 2012 etc, and a lot of circular speech on the website. If I am wrong, and they bring stability, progress and direction to the club then I will be happy to admit my misgivings were unfounded. I want them to be those knights in shining armour that pick us up and bring us back to the premiership .... However, if they hope to retain the currently resigned CEO then they have lost me already.

This does not fill me full of confidence.

If that's the case, then we are still shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic. This man must be gone as part of any deal. He should be gone already, and anything that extends his stay is pure folly. The fans do not like him, the staff do not like him, the players do not like him, and his record at other club's mirrors his record with us. All credit to him for managing to cling on by his fingernails in this situation. I just don't know how he does it. I do know however that this site, and myself personally, will not raise a single penny in sponsorship nor spend a penny on merchandise while he is employed by it. It is non-negotiable.

I am aware there was a board meeting today ... no idea of the result.