Is Relegation A Setback ?

[Kingsmills]

Having had 24 hours now to reflect on yesterday's news the more serious I believe the consequences could be for the club.

Conventinal wisdom is that relegation costs a club in the region of one and a half million pound in the first season alone. I'm begining to wonder whether the consequences for ICT could be even more serious than that.

Our financial position would no have been all that rosey even if we had escaped the drop. Last year we posted our first loss since joining the SPL and it was a fairly substantial one although far from unmanagable on our SPL turnover.

Since then we started the season with the highest wage bill in our history by some margin if you strip Marius Niculae's single season with us out of the equation. Since then we've added Byrne, Foran, Gatheussi, Kerr, Mihadjuks, Morais and Odhiambo with only Cowie, Mcallister and Wilson coming off the wage bill. Further, we have effectively been paying the salary of two sets of managerial teams since January. Quite an extrordinary combination of expenses which would not have been budgeted for at the start of the season.

On the income side our income from SPL prize money will, by virtue of finishing last, be about ?300,000 less than we've been used to by typically occupying an average of eighth position since joining the top league. That's compounded by the fact that crowds are down by about 400 or so on previous SPL seasons and I'd be astonished if commercial income was not also considerably reduced in the present economic climate. There's been no sustained cup run or even live TV match largely as a result of our nemisis Falkirk dumping us out of both cup competitions. There might yet be a liability running weell into six figures should Niculae be successful in his court case against the club.That would have put us in a bad enough position from a financial point of view even if we had stayed in the SPL so goodness knows how we will cope down a division.

I know that there is the parachute payment of ?250,000 but that will hardly cover the additional wage bill we've been carrying since January. In the past it might have been possible to approach the bank but these days they are hardly lending to anyone far less impoverished first division sides who don't even have any land or buildings to offer as security against any such loan.

There's always the possibility of major shareholders dipping their hands in their pockets but given that the construction industry has suffered more than most in the recession would they be willing, or indeed able, to ?

I have to say, taking all of the above into account, I'm greatly concerned particularly, as commonly seems to be the case, our SPL exile lasts more than a single season.

Edited May 24, 2009 by Kingsmills

[Yngwie]

I believe there is a board meeting tomorrow evening to discuss budgets and contracts for next season. And I agree that the financial consequences are dire.

St J lost ?1.8m in their season after relegation, but had Geoff Brown to keep them afloat. Bleak times ahead, I fear.

There will be massive cuts in the wage budget - both on and off the pitch. Office staff will go, coaching and youth setups will be cut back and we may also end up without a salaried Director of Football. We certainly ought to.

One further fear is that the board decide they cannot afford to keep Terry and Mo.

[WYNESS101]

Well in away theres the ALBA cup so that would help the club out a wee bit for the money they'll get from that. Is there a under-19 league in the first division??? The club would get some money from that. The fans need to put in there support again by helping the club come back up to the SPL.

Will there still be a supporters bus gonig to games next season??? and will it be cheaper???

[Kingsmills]

As far as expenses are concerned, we presently have a irector of Football who, according to the accounts, receives amoluments of ?50,000 and a Chief Executive who is likely to be on a higher salary than that. That Director of Football, although no doubt having the interests of the club at heart, so fit to allow a naive manager, to start the SPl season without a single experienced striker on the books. Most of us could see at the outset that that had the clear potential to land the club precisely where we've ended up.

The Chief Executive has no prior experience in football. Surely one obvious saving is to combine the role by getting in a Chief Executive with a football background therby dispensing with the ned for a D.O.F.

[Johnboy]

As far as expenses are concerned, we presently have a irector of Football who, according to the accounts, receives amoluments of ?50,000 and a Chief Executive who is likely to be on a higher salary than that. That Director of Football, although no doubt having the interests of the club at heart, so fit to allow a naive manager, to start the SPl season without a single experienced striker on the books. Most of us could see at the outset that that had the clear potential to land the club precisely where we've ended up.

The Chief Executive has no prior experience in football. Surely one obvious saving is to combine the role by getting in a Chief Executive with a football background therby dispensing with the ned for a D.O.F.

The naive manager's successor didn't seem to see the obvious need for an experienced striker either.

I agree with the Chief Exec. with a football background suggestion.

[Kingsmills]

With regard to Yngwie's post, I'm surprised a board meeting should be discussing these issues tomorrow night.

It was crystal clear by November, at the latest, that a plan B was required and it would be a worry if the details of that plan B finalised weeks, if not months, ago.

I would have thought and hoped that by now all that needed to be done was for that contingency plan to be put into operation.

[TinRoofMan]

Well in away theres the ALBA cup so that would help the club out a wee bit for the money they'll get from that. Is there a under-19 league in the first division??? The club would get some money from that. The fans need to put in there support again by helping the club come back up to the SPL.

Will there still be a supporters bus gonig to games next season??? and will it be cheaper???

The supporters bus did not make a profit..... I wouldnt expect the cost of ?12 per game is going to change....

The tickets for the games will be cheaper though!

[Alex MacLeod]

I had the pleasure, last night, of listening to speeches by the Chairman and Manager of our club. Where we find ourselves is a setback but is in no way a disaster. There is a plan in place. There is a hint of investment. There is full backing from Flybe and there is a commitment to do what is mecessary to get us back up at the first attempt.

The Chairman and the Board know they will need to make cuts. Where these will be remains to be seen. I'm sure the squad will be trimmed somewhat. I'm sure there will need to be some cuts in staff and in youth investment. The Chairman has assured that any cuts will be the minimum possible and that the club will still pursue its policy of operating within its available budget.

The Manager has unfinished business and will commit to puting together the best squad he can. One that will achieve the goal of promotion. He has seventeen players out of contract. He will sit down over the next day or two and try and persuade those we wants to stay. He will also try and bring in some who will do a job and he will promote some from the youths. He will build the team that will see us back up in the top flight.

The board and the management team have given the commitment and I believe they can achieve but, and its a big but. We the fans have to play our part. Near 5,000 turned up to support Inverness yesterday. The club needs that same support for the coming season. They need the season ticket sales, the gate money and every other penny thats asked of us. The club will give us what we want but we must give back in return. We must show the same loyalty, commitment and support in Div 1 as we have in the last five years of SPL football.

So I beg of every fan of this club. Get behind the team and believe, as I do, that we will make history next season. We will be only the second team ever to come straight back up again. And, in the words of Terry Butcher, lets stick it right up the central belters.

[WYNESS101]

So I beg of every fan of this club. Get behind the team and believe, as I do, that we will make history next season. We will be only the second team ever to come straight back up again. And, in the words of Terry Butcher, lets stick it right up the central belters.

:025: :025:

[TheKnowledge]

I had the pleasure, last night, of listening to speeches by the Chairman and Manager of our club. Where we find ourselves is a setback but is in no way a disaster. There is a plan in place. There is a hint of investment. There is full backing from Flybe and there is a commitment to do what is mecessary to get us back up at the first attempt.

The Chairman and the Board know they will need to make cuts. Where these will be remains to be seen. I'm sure the squad will be trimmed somewhat. I'm sure there will need to be some cuts in staff and in youth investment. The Chairman has assured that any cuts will be the minimum possible and that the club will still pursue its policy of operating within its available budget.

The Manager has unfinished business and will commit to puting together the best squad he can. One that will achieve the goal of promotion. He has seventeen players out of contract. He will sit down over the next day or two and try and persuade those we wants to stay. He will also try and bring in some who will do a job and he will promote some from the youths. He will build the team that will see us back up in the top flight.

The board and the management team have given the commitment and I believe they can achieve but, and its a big but. We the fans have to play our part. Near 5,000 turned up to support Inverness yesterday. The club needs that same support for the coming season. They need the season ticket sales, the gate money and every other penny thats asked of us. The club will give us what we want but we must give back in return. We must show the same loyalty, commitment and support in Div 1 as we have in the last five years of SPL football.

So I beg of every fan of this club. Get behind the team and believe, as I do, that we will make history next season. We will be only the second team ever to come straight back up again. And, in the words of Terry Butcher, lets stick it right up the central belters.

Well said. We will be brilliant next season. Butcher will use his status to attract/keep good players. I trust the board will have a plan for relegation considering it was always going to come one day for us. I reckon they got 4 more years in the spl than they had planned for!

[WYNESS101]

With all the money we got from the SPL in the last 5 years i think we'll do fine cause we never really splashed out on any top signings. Even though we have wasted alot of money on wages e.g. Niculae and Barrowman :021:

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

It's a disaster for at least one high profile player who's just signed a new contract that stipulated a 20% wage cut if we were relegated !

[Yngwie]

Only 20%?! What % will ICT's revenue be falling by?

[cal234ey]

The bonus with Cowie leaving is that i heard we got ?75k for him plus another ?75k as Watford stayed up. I think financially we are the best placed club to be relegated the away attendances will not differ in the 1st division much from the likes of Hamilton Killie and St Mirren etc as they would down in the central belt. We also have the Highland derbies which bring a large gate to games.

[Kingsmills]

With respect to Wyness101 all they money we've made in the SPL has been spent over the last 5 years and a bit more on top. Running an SPL team doesn't come cheap !

[AJS]

We get a ?250,000 pound payment for dropping down and according to BBC we are debt free but i'm guessing cuts will be substancial.

And the board can forget about getting 5,000 for every home game, in fact i think they can for get about getting half that.

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

We've never had 5000 turn up for every home game , if we did maybe we'd still be a top flight side .

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

With regard to Yngwie's post, I'm surprised a board meeting should be discussing these issues tomorrow night.

It was crystal clear by November, at the latest, that a plan B was required and it would be a worry if the details of that plan B finalised weeks, if not months, ago.

I would have thought and hoped that by now all that needed to be done was for that contingency plan to be put into operation.

Oh come on - These mupppets though that they had saved themselves by employing Butcher and Misspass - probably on extortionate wages - They are now running scared becos they realise that they may well have fecked up the finances and the club.

Can they afford to hold on to Butcher - feckin doubt it - can they afford to hold on to the players required - doubt it - When will people realise that these muppets are killing the club.

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

Some of us sussed that one a long time ago .

[RiG]

It's an interesting point Kingsmills makes. For the supporters, relegation hurts for a few days (at worst).

For those off the filed at ICT, it can mean the loss of a job.

[WYNESS101]

With respect to Wyness101 all they money we've made in the SPL has been spent over the last 5 years and a bit more on top. Running an SPL team doesn't come cheap !

So if a club is in the SPL what takes most of there money away from them apart from wages and transfers. Travel to games??? cost to run there ground??? etc....

[WYNESS101]

It's an interesting point Kingsmills makes. For the supporters, relegation hurts for a few days (at worst).

For those off the filed at ICT, it can mean the loss of a job.

I feel sorry for the up coming young players its always them the club gets rid of and with the credit crunch as it is in football not alot of them will find new teams

[CaleyD]

As the full time whistle blew on Saturday I was devastated by the fact that my team had just been relegated. I was feeling disappointed, angry, hurt and all the other feelings that I'm sure we all felt.

I then left the announcers box to head downstairs and I arrived in the reception area to receive a real reality check. Their was staff there who not only have a day to day job to do in the running of the club, but are every bit as much fans as you or I and it hit me....many of these people are not only having to deal with the relegation of their team, but the chance that they could find themselves looking for new jobs next week.

It kinda put my own feelings on the situation into perspective, and to be honest, it made me all the more determined to do what I can to ensure that we come back from this bigger and stronger.

I don't know if there's much we can do as individuals or fans to help the situation. The damage is done and I just hope that there's enough people involved with ICT to allow us to minimise the damage.

Some might be able to throw a few quid at the club, some might be able to offer services to help reduce overheads and for the rest, it's simply a case of rolling the sleeves up and doing what we can to help the club come back bigger and stronger....we owe it to ourselves, and more importantly we owe it to those who will very likely become the real victims of the relegation.

[RiG]

I feel sorry for the up coming young players its always them the club gets rid of and with the credit crunch as it is in football not alot of them will find new teams

I'm specifically talking about the off the field staff. Not the footballers.

[WYNESS101]

I feel sorry for the up coming young players its always them the club gets rid of and with the credit crunch as it is in football not alot of them will find new teams

I'm specifically talking about the off the field staff. Not the footballers.

Do ICT have alot of staff???