Achfary

The floating charge that Ross has doesn't exactly chime with 'never to see it again' - if he, and the other directors with loan accounts, do a John Boyle - then it's a donation and they join the hall of fame alongside Tullochs etc.. If not, it's very much an investment, and could still be a good one for them. Too early to tell which way they will pivot, but it'll be the second thing on the insolvency practitioners' mind, after season ticket money.

At the 2017 AGM, fans were told that the transformation of ICTFC into a community club would be done by 2019/2020 and that the club would live within its means, be transparent and involve the supporter’s trust... When the season ticket call comes out, it will almost certainly not come alone - there will be an emotive plea to unite and 'get behind the club' attached to it, and all the usual stuff. The only difference is that it will be an administrator from a solicitor's behind it. That is the fan's core investment. It has brought millions of pounds into the club. The fans are the best investor a club has! They don't ask for, or get, a floating charge. "Ah, but they get entertainment!" - in an age of YouTube and PPV TV with the best football products available from anywhere in the globe, live, into smartphones...being from "Inverness" is doing a lot of heavy lifting now for this investment, especially when under Rae and Morrison the fan base has been seen as something to be endured. Genuinely opening up the club more to the supporters trust -as was promised - would create more revenue. Sadly, because the last two Chairmen have reneged on the 2017 AGM, and wasted hundreds of thousands of their, but also the fans', investment (which they currently expect back-no recourse for the fans), supporters will yet again have to set aside being lied to, and blindly put money in to retrieve the situation. That has to be recognised in the model that goes forward - substantive fan representation. As Doofer's Dad says, it's now a pre-requisite for the club to move forward constructively. And I believe it would lead to a lot more investment.

If it could be relinquished by the club in 2001, then it could be again? It was rental debt in the past, so could be again. If Statkraft were going to rent it, it does have revenue-making potential. So, the lease owner going ahead is v. important. As for wording of Highland Council's 99-year contract terms, what that says/allows must be available somewhere? Well, in days gone by, some teams rented out the playing surface to sheep farmers for their sheep to graze on. But in this case, perhaps a fishing tackle and supplies conglomerate?

The tangible assets - the overall 70 years left on land leases (stadium situ, adjacent car park), land sub-leases (car park area), stands, pitch, floodlights, plant/machinery (others?) - prime site. Intangible assets such as players' transfer value - if only! Johnston Carmichael LLP, or other Insolvency Practitioners (IP), will likely first put out a desperate and urgent request for fans to buy x number of season tickets, to save the club from insolvency. From then suppose it's the IP that calls the tune - appoint/be an administrator to do/oversee some/any of the following to get out of administration: sell the leaseholds and other assets (e.g., a Dundee), or a group could do a takeover via share-buying (e.g. a Livingston - unlikely for ICTs context), Ross and directors could waive their personal debt (e.g., a John Boyle at Motherwell), or administrator could invite formal bids to buy the club (and whoever gets preferred bidder status attempt a CVA with Ross, directors, RBS and other creditors for pennies in the pound - e.g., a Hearts), or if none of those - liquidate (e.g., a Gretna, a Airdrie). Whichever, Ross is -technically - sixth in line: (1) secured creditors with a fixed charge - ?, (2) insolvency practitioners’ fees and expenses (3) preferential creditors - PAYE staff/HMRC (4) secondary preferential creditors-HMRC again (5) prescribed part creditors - any ring-fenced fund for unsecured creditors (6) secured creditors with a floating charge (7) non-preferential creditors-suppliers (8) shareholders. But only the courts /administrator will know the ranking (as number of unsecured creditors, assets, and the actual loan agreements with ICT could influence it). This is why the 'Accounts Overdue' in Companies House is such an issue - the failure to file those speaks volumes about the last gasp nature of Statkraft - it really was their last hope - and it looks like the CEO and Chairman overplayed their hand there. It also means the scale of severity of the issue is not known outside of the board - giving advantage to the creditors. Those on the Trust will be kept occupied (beyond the media enquiries) - not only in what they choose to do, but what they choose not to do. I wish them well and it seems they are positioned well so far.

-Remember to order the seats for Hearts' new main stand (v.urgent) -Email Cammy Mackay to buy footballs for the Youth Academy -Text Robbo to see which other club's games he should start attending to butter up gullible Chairmen

A list of people that may have led/lead to administration (through their actions, to differing degrees): Graham Rae Ross Morrison Scot Gardiner Duncan Ferguson A list of people that did not cause administration fans ICT non-executives / staff Local businesses In terms of Kelty, that would have caused administration, but it didn't come to pass - as the Statkraft deal (worth over the lifecycle of between £1.4m-£1.7m) fell through. I'm surprised by posts saying 'fans/trust got what they wanted'. Over the last seven years, Graham Rae, Ross Morrison, Yvonne Crook, Scot Gardiner, Battery Farm rejection, Concert Company Ltd liquidation, Statkraft withdrawal, Kelty cancellation, Company House accounts overdue, Billy Dodds, John Robertson, Duncan Ferguson...and Ryan Christie having to buy footballs, it's the fans who get the bill because they expressed outrage alongside Duncan Shearer, Ryan Christie, Alan Savage, Roy MacGregor, Richard Gordon, Tom English, etc.? Don't distract from all that just because of a contrastive expression! Lenders - especially Ross - could automatically trigger administration, very easily. This Kelty chapter looks to be over. The next chapter, "Statkraft: the goose that didn't lay the golden egg" - is why Ross walked from both Chair and Director, and probably to move on to the next act: Lender. Gardiner and Kelty pale in comparison to what Ross does - or doesn't do - next.

A colleague! The board are all retired, except Graeme and Scott Y as newer appointments, . Gardiner is largely unimpeded, at least was under Ross, hence the mess.

When Boris Johnson gave the now former MP Rory Stewart a senior cabinet post, he gave him the Africa brief. Rory wanted and expected Middle East, justifiably - he had been deputy governor of Iraq, director of an NPO in Afghanistan, and spoke Dari and Urdu fluently. His puzzlement at getting Africa, a continent he'd never set foot in, was explained to him by a colleague as thus: some leaders won't choose people for roles in which they have a knowledge advantage over said leader It's normalised that fans are to be kept at arm's length - but it is just absurd at non-profit making ones. The fact that the ICT boardroom has been like the bat cave for years is a choice, evident by the hurdles/shutters Ross et al put up to stymie the Trust's proposal At ICT, there are a number of very relevantly-skilled professionals that would volunteer, of course many have done so in the past, but CEOs and MDs eventually alienated them. Hopefully a stronger and emboldened Supporters Trust and fan-led new media will sharpen consultation/scrutiny of future choices of stewards?

Well said. 100%.

Ross was very well-intentioned and deep-pocketed, but he delegated and deferred, when action was needed, until it got so bad that I'm sure all the enjoyment (and spare change) had gone. Sliding doors with a different CEO sadly. Seven key ICT staff resigned in early 2019 protest of the previous CEO's behaviour (Yvonne Crook). The answer to all that? Scot Gardiner! To be fair to Ross, those hirings were under Graham Rae's 'stewardship', but was on the board and the rancour continued after he departed. Whatever happens next - the board have a simple choice. To do what is easy, or do what is right. To drop the partisan stuff and choose real sustainability and community - at the best level of football that allows, or keep gambling scarce resources on the short-term 'Premiership-at-all-costs' approach through two people who have no discernible ability, or particular affinity to ICT, and who treat clubs like bon-bons. Time will tell.

It was Kelty that brought it forward by a month: '...due to the loud negative opinions from the fans to the idea of moving to Kelty, I feel that bringing this forward might be better timing' Another of the ex-Chairman's Evel Knievl logical leaps there. fans...and... Alan Savage, Roy MacGregor, former players, staff, ex-staff, Richard Gordon, Tom English et al It wasn't an idea, it was announced and agreed They weren't opinions - more like sound and reasoned arguments and reservations “Hearing fans saying they would prefer administration to training the first team in Kelty sent a shiver down my spine". Aye, a shiver because of ex-Chairman's director loan account and other assets, I'll be bound. The depth of feeling, and lack of alternatives/consultation from the board, led to such extremes. No doubt, that'll be his mantra when it happens. Quite aside from the actual plan itself --announcing Kelty without any consultation with A N other was - and remains - an act against the club --Announcing as 'delighted to...' was massively crass in the extreme --Announcing and agreeing it without having checked that Fife Council were even aware/had agreed was amateur and gross dereliction When administration does come - the Kelty smokescreen will recede, and the late accounts, neglect of professional football's basics in favour of failed speculative gambles, mismanagement of contract and application writing, treatment of fans with disdain and contempt, partisan infighting, throwing scarce resources away needlessly at unqualified and incompetent CEOs and managers, to the extent that ex-players were having to buy the footballs, will be the legacy.

Kelty is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Was an opinion piece in P&J yesterday by Mike Edwards (a former STV journey) headlined "Where Inverness Caley Thistle trains is irrelevant, so bring on Kelty move" It had the sub-headline of: To get out of this league and back into the running for a tilt at the big time requires radical plans. Having never heard of him before, his Wikipedia lists many impressive accolades and philanthropic work. That said, this P&J article opinion column was very poor. It came across as incredibly conceited: "You should have seen the look on many football managers' faces when I turned up to meet them in the three-piece suit they'd seen me wearing on the TV news the night before while outside the High Court." The actual argument in Mike's op-ed price was that Jim Jeffries told him Kilmarnock FC trained at the University of Glasgow facilities. "I was perplexed. I always thought provincial Scottish football clubs had to be part and parcel of their local communities" Mike: You can drive from Kilmarnock to Glasgow in thirty minutes. Just about the same time as it takes to drive from Inverness to Fort George... The article was poor in other respects. His deep 'love' of football was on show: "Once we'd got the dreary business of his injury-depleted squad and the formation and system he'd [Jim Jeffries at Killie] deploy on a Saturday out of the way, we got chatting..." (perhaps about his three-piece suit and its appearance at the high court the night before?) And the chat with Jim did not leave Mike at all impressed: "He was amiable enough, but I wouldn't want him on my team in a pub quiz" I initially assumed it was Mike's perception of Jim Jefferies' general knowledge that put him off, but it could just as easily have been Jim's attire, or perhaps his choice of evening TV... Most revealing - and the only interesting or insightful part of this entire pompous and vain puff piece - was that Mike apparently emailed ICT two years ago and offered to be a director, dangling the princely sum of £475,000 as a long-term, interest free loan as the carrot. He got no response. Anyway, before the club scrambles to fish out that email and call off the Kelty move (or more likely, as the jilted lover, get in there and dump Fife Council before they dump us), Mike has since invested the sum into buying up holiday homes in the area instead, and the rent pleases him. To be fair, I may have totally mis-read Mike, as I didn't understand many of the words he uses, such as 'imbroglio', cri de coeur or 'contretemp'. There have been too many like Mike - namely Graham Rae, and now it seems, Ross Morrison - who see ICT as a personal plaything where only their (usually harebrained) idea is the right idea, where if it seems right to them, it must be right everywhere, and where the real, generational support is treated as a nuisance, as in this opinion piece. Hiring Yvonne Crook and Scot Gardiner as CEOs - both completely laughable and indefensible hires - are warnings ahead: how can the Supporters Trust and the club be emboldened to protect ICT's scarce resources in future from these vainglorious types and their nepotism?

On Wyness Shuffle, 136 miles down (very well handled and a great production) List of people and things blamed by Chairman the fans (for not coming up with alternatives to a plan a plan they knew nothing about) David Wotherspoon's wife (!) Kelty (for not asking Fife Council) the fans again (for not making an outcry about rumours on the academy) the Inverness Courier reporter the creditors/debtors due diligence 'that boy' (a sports club owner from North America?) the past six years Duncan Ferguson's contract Duncan Ferguson's sales pitch to Everton's owners The stadium/fan's bar Inverness being situated too far from South Queensferry (?) Wives (again) and offspring of players in the central belt Accommodation prices in Inverness White Knights who only 'sniffed' Not blamed: Scot Gardiner He has come out in P&J and defended not asking the owners of the facilities they announced: "When we spoke to (Kelty), we said we knew (the pitch) was the (Fife) Council's and we said they'd go and tell them (about the agreement between ICT and Kelty Hearts). How could they go ahead and announce it as a partnership, and sign an agreement (as he said on TWS) knowing the owners hadn't been told yet? If the farcical situation on Kelty isn't enough to act, then... It does seem as there is only one aim in his mind, contrary to his appeals for other ideas, "I want to keep us full time and I want to get us up". The latter, can be inferred, is promotion from the Championship, not League One, and that seems to be the crux of the. mindset - Premiership or bust. The former is an aspiration shared, but he seems desperately averse to the careful and steady plan (Director loan accounts were mentioned. More than once...).

This is risible! Fife Council have had no involvement in talks, as stated in the Inverness Courier. The P&J go further: "Fife Council’s community manager Sarah Roxburgh confirmed that Fife Council owns the pitch and that the council had not been involved in the partnership plans recently announced by Kelty Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle" "We understand discussions between the two clubs are ongoing. On behalf of Fife Council, we'll need to be involved to review current booking terms and conditions as well as weigh up the impact that this may have on the availability of the community pitch to other users with any potential benefits" Not at all surprising given it is the owner, and it was all paid for by £7m of Fife Council's money for/from its community! Central Fife Times, in 2016, stated Fife council had set up a Community Investment Fund and said 'Additional facilities include a large outdoor football 3G pitch for use by Kelty Hearts the village junior team, the school and the local community'. The "Turf Matters" website in 2018 stated Fife Council had invested £665,000 in the park for the whole community and said it was 'a community asset that is open to the paying public'. Kelty Hearts Community Club, which is a registered charity, was reported in the Central Fife Times in 2019 as having over 160 young people on their books as well with an under 20s team and woman’s team and a walking football team all included. They have an online booking system here (for New Central Park) and here for Bath Street Park (grass). Their Twitter/X shows that in the last week, Kelty CC had their Under 17s, under 16s, under 14s maroons, under 14s whites, under 13 maroons, all playing teams from elsewhere in the region and doing very well (the Under 14 Maroons won the Fife Football Development League which has Raith and Dunfermline in it) Kelty Community Club Facebook states that Sunday afternoons are for their '2007s' who play in the Under 18s AFYFC Division One. Mon and Wed evenings for the girls teams, Mon 8th July is booked in the morning for Open trials for the 2012s. What an active Centre and pitch! Active Fife Football - which is basically High Life Highland - is Fife Council's own initiative. They have mornings reserved for infants and Fri nights 5pm-6.30 for 10-17 year olds every week etc (via Active Fife Football FB). That same 2019 article in Central Fife Times was about the issues they have with limited parking. The charity applied to lease land to build a car park as there was not enough parking during evenings or match days. A post on WeArePerth suggests that the changing rooms for New Central Park are housed in the Community Centre (assuming ICT would need to use a gym, meeting rooms, changing rooms, etc.). This Community Centre was built, again according to the 2016 report in Central Fife Times, By Fife Council's Community Investment Fund. So basically, the board are intending to take its commercial full time pro football team operation into a community - 146 miles away - and take over its facilities, which is primarily being used by a youth charity, without asking it! Ross Morrison: "I have got to take responsibility as the chairman. The idea came to me, and I thought we cannot move down there. Then I thought about it [and while re-thinking it, did it ever occur to you to ask the person who brought the idea to you if it they had approval from its owner before announcing it to the public...] and it works" [well, clearly does not - and neither does the CEO and the board] If the Chairman is reading this, this can be a watershed moment. Please drop your backing for the CEO Scot Gardiner before its too late. Surround yourself instead with better people, people who have actually had ICTs best interests at heart, for decades, even if you see them as the problem at the moment (and you might have justification, nobody's perfect). Don't let pride get in the way - you'll find a lot of people will understand that you put your faith in the wrong person -Scot Gardiner - and that led you down the (boat of) garden path. But you have to change tack now. Not in a week, not in two weeks - because then you'll be complicit and it will be impossible for you to disassociate yourself. You've put in money, you came out and spoke to the Press, and that is laudable - but if this doesn't provide you with the stark reality of the CEOs toxic effect, it'll be impossible to salvage. You have put in money and time, and emotions into ICT - do the right thing and people will surprise you, if you put ICT first from today. It might even be the path you've been looking for all along. Please don't sink the club because of one employee.

It's worth looking at "what success looks like" under this "plan" ICT compete fully with Livingston, Raith, Queen's Park, Morton etc. for getting central belt-based players in There are no more players recruited who need accommodation (England, Aberdeen, County-based) The club is financially viable as a going concern The players are very happy (Chairman's words) Promotion from League One Promotion from Championship The risks are all too obvious. Why would a solid central belt-based Championship-level (FT) player choose ICT over other FT clubs? (much more travelling and getting back home on a Sat at 10pm Sat/Tue at 2am from a home game, artificial pitches, playing PT players, a club financially on knees) unless the salary ICT pay is much higher than other Championship clubs, which is very questionable given the state of things. Will it end up being gambles on very young players, and very old players, released from Premiership/Championship teams? That will mean the managing, coaching and tactics will need to be Pele level. There's not been sign of it. If the month of June does not see recruitment which looks like success is on the cards - then alles kaput

"We were running far too rich and we have been losing far too much money". Who is the "we" here? Not the fans. No fan demanded huge salaries for two current figures who were abject failures at their previous jobs. No fan wanted rafts of loanees housed in hotels. Thus, the "we" is those who hired Gardiner, Ferguson instead of going with other options without a cost (promote a coach, promote a staff member) which, given the state of things, wouldn't have been any worse (and likely would have been better). "I can’t put in any more money, the other directors can’t put any more money in so we have had to cut out costs" Sjálfbærni, Durabilitate, Тогтвортой байдал...or in English, 'sustainability': did it never cross your mind - or Mr Rae's - to be more sustainable, at all, since 2017. It was much easier to gamble big, until painted into corner, than be custodians, audit and carefully balance the books line by line and generate multiple, local, revenue streams to live within means. Well, if the supporters don’t support the club then the club goes out of business. If Season ticket money is so pivotal, when did spending it (and much more than just 'it') like Babylonian Kings on the likes of Yvonne Crook, Scot, Robbo, Dodds, Duncan, hotels for several loanees, accommodation and generous benefits, so many contributions all leading to relegation to the third tier of Scottish football. This move (and the Mad-hattery Farm 250k) does seems like life-support to avoid the club going belly up before the directors can extract their investments. The allure of Gardiner is clear - tasked by Morrison et al. to get them their money back before it goes bust, like a bailiff. TL;DR 'Not fit and proper since 2017'

I don’t see where I have said it should be accepted. I am trying to work out the board’s motives - true - but only because that is where the truth will be (my last post was about following the money, other posts nowhere near to be seen as accepting it) Been around long enough to have attended Caley games, but if you want a closed shop, be my guest!

This appears to a 'by any-means-necessary' move to get into the Premiership again, where the ends justify the means, for the board. Livingston, Falkirk, Hamilton, Raith(?), Partick, Queen’s Park, Ayr, Dunfermline, Airdrie, Morton are the competition for players ICT would need to be paying higher salaries* than these clubs (though in League one, they could 'afford' to take in players not wanted by the above 10, but not in Championship) Given ICT is not exactly flush, the conclusion must be that some in the club are trying to get ICT back up asap to be able to recoup their investment, without sinking the club and their investments. Last roll of the dice, and all for their own sake. *higher because the travelling a player would make at ICT, compared to with other clubs, is significantly more and so it will come down to money

The reaction on Facebook, Twitter, and across UK media (Sun, Independent, BBC) and Tom English’s incredulity goes to show this board decision has brought the club into disrepute. It also is a direct and objective counter to the obvious paranoia and disdain held by the board towards the support, which they may have felt would insulate them from looking at the fallout. It is universally being rejected, by those who know football and who are better judges than Gardiner and Morrison et al. What is also now possible is that to save face (at least in front of the national media), their egos do an about turn and call it off - and in doing so needlessly sink a significant amount of much needed cash flow to break the contract with Kelty. Either way, ICT has been made a laughing stock and source of ridicule by the board; their decision making ability and ‘fit and proper status’ is now completely undermined and someone, somewhere in the ownership structure has to do the honorable thing and step up, be accountable, or else be as associated with the mess as much as the CEO and Chairman.

There are so many knock on effects/unanswered questions/unintended consequences What player looks at this scenario and thinks, "That's the club for me" (and reliance on loan players is what caused this mess, so no benefit there). Sends the message of being inferior. What happens when there is adverse weather in Inverness for a 'home' game, and a ground inspection in the morning? Will there be a desire from the 'home' side to travel? Every game will be an away game, for the players and coaching staff In cup games, the players will be crossing fingers for an 'away' tie (hardly the mindset) and eventually come to resent the trips to Inverness Kelty will be able to know everything about the club, the players, the tactics What happens if Kelty have more injuries, or their manager suddenly doubles training sessions - will ICT be sidelined? What happens when there are postponements, call offs, replays, bad weather, etc - who gets priority for the best facilities when there's clashes? Any goodwill for the 'battery farm' idea is finished - the argument is lost in terms of "community". All the coaches, physios, and other auxiliary staff related to players will (likely) need to be based in central belt - will there be any need for full-time staff at the stadium (or will they share Kelty's staff?) Given the planning 'issues', how well thought through is the contractual agreement- what happens if Kelty terminate the agreement? And how long is it for? Will players sign contracts that commit to moving to Inverness if needed? But the main one is that County will now have complete legitimacy to be seen as the only destination for all up and coming youth in the Highlands and Islands. And Inverness's image and identity as a Highland club is just thrown away literally overnight, "delightedly".