Investment

[+CaleyHedgehog]

Glad you are on line just now. I feel that you have been the perfect fan this season. You have continued to support the team from your lofty position on the bridge, while managing not to risk a penny going in Gardiner's direction. 

If my memory serves me correctly you used to be a wee bit volatile in your early posts, but you have matured into a supporter for ICT to be proud of, and I'm sorry I haven't made it on to the bridge to join you - I am purchasing my season ticket this week. 

Well done for your dedication to Caley Thistle 

[+CaleyHedgehog]

Jack W, that is!

[TheNorthStander]

58 minutes ago, Jack Waddington said:

Oh good lord.

Smells like a lawsuit

"Company directors have a legal duty under the Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”) not to file false information on Companies House. Knowingly or recklessly delivering information or making a statement to the Registrar of Companies that is misleading, false or deceptive is a criminal offence under s.1112 of the Act and can lead to imprisonment and/or a fine."

 

Considering Mr Makwana isn't a director of ICT at this point in time (and is hopefully never!) this makes this even more bizarre of a development. Perhaps he may feel some pre-agreement terms have been breached but the devil will be in the detail of the agreement itself and sadly for us all that will be covered by NDA's. Can imagine he may be chasing recouping some legal costs though.

Appears fair to suggest on the face of things that he was unlikely to be provided permission by a person with the authority to do so to remove Alan Savage as a Director given the "pausing" of the takeover talks with 77Ventures. Who knows who made the change however on the site itself.

However on behalf of all fans - can all the drama please just end?

 

Edited August 14, 2024 by TheNorthStander

[Scotty]

10 minutes ago, TheNorthStander said:

However on behalf of all fans - can all the drama please just end?

Amen to that please. 

[Starscape]

Appointed and resigned on the same day according to Companies House. I think that may be me done if Ketan takes over and SG returns. At least until it's all over, whatever that may mean.

[Charles Bannerman]

52 minutes ago, Starscape said:

Appointed and resigned on the same day according to Companies House. I think that may be me done if Ketan takes over and SG returns. At least until it's all over, whatever that may mean.

Not being an expert on the running of companies, I can only really ask questions here, but these Companies House entries both refer to events that happened on Monday, and as recently as today (Wed) Alan Savage has been discussing his role with the media.

Is it therefore possible that he doesn’t seek to be a Director in his current role but, for some procedural reason unknown, required that status temporarily in order to fulfil a particular function? For instance it was on Monday that Scot Gardiner was told to leave the building and it may well also have been on Monday that Ketan Makwana was told that his services were no longer required.

I just don’t follow what KM’s social media are on about, but as far as I can see, he is not a Director of ITandC and has not even got as far as acquiring any shares in the company, either by purchase of new equity or by acquisition of existing shares. The only area I might therefore foresee as problematic is the potential for some breach of agreement, but equally I can’t see Alan Savage having failed to take any such possible issue into account. In any case, if the existing shareholders didn’t want to sell to him, there’s not a thing he could do about it - unless he wanted to come up with £5.1M to acquire a majority share outright - and even then, I think it would require a general meeting to release enough shares for him to do that.

Edited August 14, 2024 by Charles Bannerman

[+DoofersDad]

10 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

Not being an expert on the running of companies, I can only really ask questions here, but these Companies House entries both refer to events that happened on Monday, and as recently as today (Wed) Alan Savage has been discussing his role with the media.

Is it therefore possible that he doesn’t seek to be a Director in his current role but, for some procedural reason unknown, required that status temporarily in order to fulfil a particular function? For instance it was on Monday that Scot Gardiner was told to leave the building and it may well also have been on Monday that Ketan Makwana was told that his services were no longer required.

I just don’t follow what KM’s social media are on about, but as far as I can see, he is not a Director of ITandC and has not even got as far as acquiring any shares in the company, either by purchase of new equity or by acquisition of existing shares. The only area I might therefore foresee as problematic is the potential for some breach of agreement, but equally I can’t see Alan Savage having failed to take any such possible issue into account.

Why would the interim Chairman not be the one to show Gardiner and Makwana the door?  Did he and the rest of the Directors refuse to do so?  Or might it be a simple mistake?  Someone wrongly thinking that Savage was being appointed as a Director in order to carry out what the Board are asking him to do?  After all, the Board have been known to make the odd mistake or two before!

Panos Thomas's statement, dated 12th August but not put on the club's website until quite late on the 13th, is very strangely worded in several respects.  It does, however, appear to be clear that Savage has not been appointed a Director.  Instead, it would appear that Savage has been tasked with clarifying the actual financial situation of the club and getting things in order such that potential investors can be clear exactly what they might be putting money in to.  Worryingly though, the statement still refers to new ownership and that talks with Makwana have been "suspended" rather than terminated.

It is a very odd statement indeed and the whole situation seems to be fraught with tensions.  I fear we are still a very long way from where we would like to be.

[IBM]

3 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

Why would the interim Chairman not be the one to show Gardiner and Makwana the door?  Did he and the rest of the Directors refuse to do so?  Or might it be a simple mistake?  Someone wrongly thinking that Savage was being appointed as a Director in order to carry out what the Board are asking him to do?  After all, the Board have been known to make the odd mistake or two before!

Panos Thomas's statement, dated 12th August but not put on the club's website until quite late on the 13th, is very strangely worded in several respects.  It does, however, appear to be clear that Savage has not been appointed a Director.  Instead, it would appear that Savage has been tasked with clarifying the actual financial situation of the club and getting things in order such that potential investors can be clear exactly what they might be putting money in to.  Worryingly though, the statement still refers to new ownership and that talks with Makwana have been "suspended" rather than terminated.

It is a very odd statement indeed and the whole situation seems to be fraught with tensions.  I fear we are still a very long way from where we would like to be.

That's what I highlighted earlier DD the club statement was dated the 12th and not posted, I would not trust the board members that have been running our club with a bag of sweets whereas I would put more trust in Alan Savage and Charlie Christie to try and save our club from all the others that have been involved.

[Yngwie]

This all just gets stranger and stranger. Do we have a power struggle on our hands?

I can only speculate that the agreement Seventy7 reached to take control of the club gave them the right to control or at least approve the appointment or removal of directors and key personnel. So maybe the Board agreed to appoint Savage but then it was either pointed out that they don’t have authority to do so and had to retract it. Or perhaps Seventy7 already had access to the Companies House login details and just reversed it themselves. Don’t know, just trying to make sense of it.

[ClickbaitProponent]

16 hours ago, big cherly said:

STFU said;

‘I think we need to manage our excitement and expectations a little. Savage won't know exactly what the situation is until he's completed his audit and it's not only the financials that are a total mess.’

Yes, I expect Gardener’s lawyer has spoken to the Club Secretary and the lawsuit for wrongful dismissal has already landed on the ICTFC doormat. 
 

I still regard this as an example of clearing our feet of the dross and flotsam that put us in the position we find. It’s going to take I expect accepting cretins like Gardener (as possibly, some soon to be heaved existing board members) being compensated as part of the uncomfortable digestion for us fans in the coming months. It may be kept under the radar so not to rile too many, but I for one will breathe easier as soon as this lot are gone for good! 
bc

The good news in respect of lawsuits is that Gardiner resigned so he hasn't got a leg to stand on. In addition to that, all the disasters from the battery farm, mismanagement of players, fallen through take overs etc will all have an air of misconduct about them. If I was Gardiner I would take the dues owed and disappear quietly. Kick up a fuss and he can watch what is left of his career disappear down the plughole very publically.

[Yngwie]

16 hours ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

All that will have happened is that he will have been paid for the rest of his notice period and escorted off the premises.

I would think it is more likely that he is on Gardinering Leave, ie still be getting paid until the expiry of his notice period. That’s what we’ve done with other leavers like Dodds and Robbo.

We don’t have tens of thousands of pounds sitting around to give out as a lump sum. We seemingly didn’t have enough funds to pay for loan deals, or pay for Doran’s operation, or pay for new strips, and likely need financial support from Seventy7 or Savage to pay the August wages.

Edited August 15, 2024 by Yngwie

[STFU]

I do wonder if there was an element of head in the sand from the board. The term plausible deniability comes to mind.

[robbo1985]

Should there not be some communication with / from the SLO in order to clarify?  Hopefully the Trust are in dialogue? 

Edited August 15, 2024 by robbo1985

[Scotty]

Its all getting a little bit messy. I see some sense in what Charles is saying, perhaps AS had to be a current director to make initial changes - such as binning the former CEO - and now that he has done this, he can revert to a more 'independent consultant' role. If his forensic investigation of things shows board culpability in anything, and given the laundry list of complaints from the last several years my opinion is that this is bound to be the case, and he was a (current) member of the board, then he may have to be hoisted by his own petard, which would be counterproductive. 

If on the other hand this is yet another hail-mary by either KM/77V or our former CEO then what could they possibly hope to achieve? One is the single most reviled person in the history of ICTFC, and the other has all the history of grand schemes failing that you could ever see (in fact that could also be a description of our former CEO also).

To keep myself right, I have this handy guide

 

[ictchris]

Alan Savage said in the P&J that he has put £150,000 in, presumably to meet immedate wage needs etc.

[Yngwie]

Another key point, which someone briefly mentioned here yesterday but which merits more attention in case anybody missed it, is that Charlie Christie is now interim CEO. That seems a very sensible move.

Edited August 15, 2024 by Yngwie

[Scotty]

57 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Another key point, which someone briefly mentioned here yesterday but which merits more attention in case anybody missed it, is that Charlie Christie is now interim CEO. That seems a very sensible move.

Yes, that would be a sensible move. I wonder if this is just temporary, however? Is there anyone better to be the go-to guy at the stadium right now as we rebuild. AS can't be there every minute of the day but few other people can understand ICT the way Charlie does, he has seen it all as a player, as a manager, as a commercial employee, and as the head of youth development. ICT runs through his veins and whether he gets a decision right or wrong, he will make based on his perception of what is good for ICT and IMHO we have not been able to say that for many years.  

[Leaky Blinder]

What puzzles me is, if the CEO allegedly concealed the level of monies owed to suppliers how did he achieve this.

Having worked for a major sporting association in a financial role my task was to prepare & provide the CEO with aged debtor/creditor reports alongside a monthly budget forecast which in turn were presented to and critiqued by a finance committee.

Are we being led to believe the board simply worked off verbal updates by one individual, or did the board not understand the financial information being presented ? if indeed it ever was. On the basis of what we know it appears he may have been left to "just get on with it" without robust checks and balances being in place at boardroom level. 

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Just now, Leaky Blinder said:

What puzzles me is, if the CEO allegedly concealed the level of monies owed to suppliers how did he achieve this.

Having worked for a major sporting association in a financial role my task was to prepare & provide the CEO with aged debtor/creditor reports alongside a monthly budget forecast which in turn were presented to and critiqued by a finance committee.

Are we being led to believe the board simply worked off verbal updates by one individual, or did the board not understand the financial information being presented ? if indeed it ever was. On the basis of what we know it appears he may have been left to "just get on with it" without robust checks and balances being in place at boardroom level. 

It appears that he was quite authoritarian in his role. So he may have kept virtually every move to himself. However, this raises the question not only what was in his financial reports to the Board, but what did he tell the auditors? If he in effect took on the Company Secretarial role the Board would have sanctioned this. They will also have photocopied his professional qualifications when he was appointed. Hang on a minute.....

[TheNorthStander]

Club apparently claiming there was a "clerical error" that saw Savage listed as a Director on Companies House: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/caley-thistle-say-clerical-error-led-to-former-chairman-in-358466/ 

Just shows what a shambles the club is from top to bottom and I still get the strong pit in my stomach that yet again something isn't quite adding up...

 

[Yngwie]

“There was an assumption that he is now a director at the club which is not correct and the mistake was made digitally.”

Oops. Who made that incorrect assumption? We can’t blame this one on Gardiner!

[Leaky Blinder]

11 minutes ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

It appears that he was quite authoritarian in his role. So he may have kept virtually every move to himself. However, this raises the question not only what was in his financial reports to the Board, but what did he tell the auditors? If he in effect took on the Company Secretarial role the Board would have sanctioned this. They will also have photocopied his professional qualifications when he was appointed. Hang on a minute.....

I find it difficult to buy in to a reality that he kept everything to himself given the time required to accurately record, presumably via suitable accounting software all income & expenditure along with creditors, debtors, daily bank rec etc  .. was there no finance admin support with eyes on this humdrum of daily finance activity ? If not I can begin to understand how one man, particularly if neither a details type nor team player could allow a financial s##tstorm to engulf the club whilst he scurries about dreaming up hail mary solutions. 

I appreciate the word accurately is doing some heavy lifting in the above paragraph. 

[TheNorthStander]

Just seen the P&J article showing the extent of our troubles: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/6558499/former-ictfc-chief-alan-savage-has-warning-amid-title-target/

 

 

Savage said administration remains a possibility and he requires key shareholders to get around the table and strike a deal for the good of the toiling club.

He said: “I am trying to put matters to bed as soon as possible.

“I believe the first set of figures I saw (were debts of) £450,000. On closer inspection, it rose to £600,000 and then £700,000.

“On Wednesday, we found out we owed (kit supplier) Puma £60,000 for last season alone.

“It seems £120,000 of kit had been ordered and our new CEO Charlie Christie cannot yet get the details of what’s been ordered. It’s been over-ordered.

“So that takes the amount to more than £800,000. I have put £200,000 in this week.

“With the help of people like (former director) David Cameron, who has some great ideas on the property side to drive in revenue, while (former chairman) David Sutherland will also be helpful and has pledged some money to the club, we can also approach other businesses with that in mind.

Also clarified that the Companies House filing was his lawyers mistake:

Savage, who is determined to bring transparency to light for the ICT fans, was keen to clear this one up after it appeared on Makwana’s LinkedIn page amid a discussion.

He said: “I signed a form saying I’d join the board on the understanding it would be when I get to the bottom of the financial situation, whether it is three or four weeks, however long it takes me.

“Until I knew what was going on, I remain as a  consultant as it wouldn’t be in order for me to join the board.

“However, the lawyer in the meeting has somehow sent it in by pressing the button in error. We soon realised that happened and rescinded it.”

[+snorbens_caleyman]

36 minutes ago, TheNorthStander said:

Club apparently claiming there was a "clerical error" that saw Savage listed as a Director on Companies House

That was always the most likely explanation.

Gardiner would have been stupid to try anything.  And the one good - indeed, remarkable - thing that can be said about Makwanda is that he seems to have kept his nose clean, despite all his BS, and hasn't fallen foul of regulators, authorities or the law.

[Leaky Blinder]

5 minutes ago, TheNorthStander said:

 

“However, the lawyer in the meeting has somehow sent it in by pressing the button in error. We soon realised that happened and rescinded it.”

Sounds like something Trump might utter post apocalypse ..