Clach going to the wall... again?

[RednBlackComeback]

Read in todays Courier that Clach don't have their financial troubles to seek, again!

I have never been a clach supporter but I do hope they come out if this. Their social club is now run by a brewery due to running at a loss.  Clach park has changed a lot over the years, just in my lifetime, but I would hate to see it disappear. Ironic for me to say as, the last time I set foot inside the place was probably to see Jags play !!!

But it is the last of an era. Clach are the last surviving club to represent Inverness in the HL and their ground is the last surviving ground of Inverness' past.

Am I the only ICT/Jags fan to feel this way?

[gerx13]

As a Jags fan I'd hate to see the extinction of another Inverness club. My home looks over their ground and I have enjoyed watching them play. I hope they get over their current crisis as the Highland league needs a Inverness team, it wouldn't be the same without one.

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shades of the past

[Kingsmills]

I too would regret the loss of the Lillywhites.

[dead_ball_specialist]

Perhaps a new Inverness team could replace them?

[clacher_holiday2]

grant street should be a world heritage site

[Kingsmills]

Especially the Wine Shed !

[mainstander]

I read that in the paper the other week. Look's far more like a viscous rumour from Billy Corbett whose once again gently massaging the facts behind the figures to make David Dowling look bad. Theyre was also something on the radio after it saying that if their was a problem it was the social club and there sorting it.

[+Gringo]

Fingers crossed that they do just that.....

[Charles Bannerman]

I had the pleasure of being at a very well attended Clach FC Dinner last night with over 200 people (more than you get at Grant Street on a Saturday unfortunately) which, including a very successful auction, will hopefully have earned quite a decent sum for Clach. (Unfortunately, though, those of us who were also at the Tokely Testimonial got second helpings of the same speech from John Rowbotham!) Great night though.

I do wonder if there might be a grain of truth in mainstander's theory a couple of posts ago. (Mainstander, please don't take offence but maybe you could try to sort out your spelling - especially "there", "their" and "they're".)

Certainly my fairly searching discussions with David Dowling on the matter and the look I have had at the Clach accounts seem to produce a very different picture of a club which is perhaps not doing all that well financially (did Clach ever?) but improving and rumours of whose demise have been greatly exaggerated.

[RednBlackComeback]

Certainly my fairly searching discussions with David Dowling on the matter and the look I have had at the Clach accounts seem to produce a very different picture of a club which is perhaps not doing all that well financially (did Clach ever?) but improving and rumours of whose demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Good to hear!

Is it not the case that ICT or a subsidiary Trust own Grant Street Park?........ or something along those lines ???

[Charles Bannerman]

That used to be the case but Grant Street Park is now owned by the Common Good Fund and leased back to Clach. When Clach had their last financial crisis in 96/97, a company called Caledonian Thistle Properties was set up and bought Grant Street to allow Clach to pay off that debt. I believe the sum was £280,000 and I always understood that this was funded by Tullochs money. A few years later the park was sold on to the Common Good Fund who continue to lease it to the football club.

[SMEE]

I for one hope they stay alive, as I grew up up wi Clach fans and the craic was always great there on derby day in the old highland league days. Simple fact is tho, they cant keep getting bailed out only to get in a mess again. Dunno what the answer is but hopefully someonme does.

[Charles Bannerman]

I've been following the Clach saga for the last 20 years and find it quite fascinating although, as someone who wishes them very well, I'd prefer if there wasn't a story there to follow in the first place.

Clach struggled and declined through the late 80s under the second generation Rodgers and Willie MacLennan era until the club was snatched from the jaws of the receiver (the winding up order had actually been signed by the Sheriff) in 1990 by the consortium put together by Davie Love and from which David Dowling emerged as the major player.

They got rid of much of a large 6 figure debt by selling off the part of Grant Street Park which had accommodated the stand which mysteriously burned down around 1988.

On the park, starting with one signed player (Derek Rudkin), Roshie Fraser rescued Clach from a situation where they'd ended season 89-90 on three points (3 draws) and 153 goals conceded. By 1993 they won the North Cup and have had other larger triumphs since, notably the League and League Cup, losing the Q Cup on penalties, in 2004.

Then in the mid 90s they were hit again by a combination of factors relating to economic conditions in the Merkinch and the growth of Caley Thistle - these are detailed in the second last chapter of Against All Odds. They came within a whisker of moving to Dingwall with Ross County in 1997 but eventually stayed at Grant Street Park which was sold to Caley Thistle Properties for £280K which saw off this latest financial crisis.

However, irrespective of how much fuss the Merkinchers may have made on these two occasions when it looked as if the club would be lost, they still haven't matched this with their cash. Attendances continue to be poor and the latest problem has been a decline in Social Club income. This is partly a national problem although the recruitment of Kevin Duff to the Board (NOT as a representative of Carlsberg as has been implied in the Courier) has also sharpened up the management of the Social Club. I also notice from their accounts that they have managed to cut a lot of costs and the Scoial club is already turning round considerably. Certainly the current situation is pretty tame compared with 1990 ansd 1996.

But the fundamental problem is that this club which is meant to be so close to the hearts of the Merkinch (and you should have heard the fuss when they were going to go to Dingwall) is not getting the income it needs to survive. They've also been forced to sell much of the "crown jewels" to solve the two earlier financial crises and more or less all that's left now is the capital value of the Social Club.

David Dowling says he believes Clach will be down there "for many years to come". I'm sure he's right. I certainly hope so.