Supporters Trust Statement on New Investment by Seventy7 Ventures

[ICT Supporters Trust]

Following today's announcement by the club, the Supporters Trust has issued this statement, which is also being e-mailed to members:

https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/post/ict-supporters-trust-statement-on-ictfc-new-investor

The Trust Board is grateful for the continued support of members.

We will continue to work on behalf of our members and the wider fan base and, if you are not currently a member, joining is easy using this link (and only £5, or £1 for Under 16s):

https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/join-us

[+snorbens_caleyman]

Well, if the "new owner" has made a considered decision to keep Gardiner on, that'll get you off to a good start 

But the truth has to be smoked out, somehow.

[RednBlackComeback]

Isn't this statement a bit premature? According to the club statement, they've only accepted an offer thus far. The legal deal is yet to be concluded.

It also mentions 'new owners', but won't they be 'majority shareholders'?

[CaleyCiuin]

Why would any new owner want to meet with the Trust given they have advised not to buy season tickets etc. How many Trust members are there, a few hundred? Definitely not representative of everyone. I bought my season ticket a week ago despite the Trust advising not to. Not a very coherent organisation which has very little credibility!

[buckett]

1 hour ago, CaleyCiuin said:

Why would any new owner want to meet with the Trust given they have advised not to buy season tickets etc. How many Trust members are there, a few hundred? Definitely not representative of everyone. I bought my season ticket a week ago despite the Trust advising not to. Not a very coherent organisation which has very little credibility!

A new owner could see the Trust as being representative of the supporters, in which case it would be in their interest to get the Trust onside.

I like the idea of the Supporters' Trust and see it as a practical route to uniting the fans and giving us a voice.

You say it's not representative of everyone, but it seems it's the best we've got at the moment.

[RednBlackComeback]

I would hope that the new majority shareholders will have done at least a little research on the current state of the club and be very keen to mend bridges between the club and its fans?

Whilst the trust might not be perfect its membership has swelled significantly in recent weeks for obvious reasons. What other body is at all representative of the fans?

[+DoofersDad]

It is clear from the Trust's statement that Seventy7 Ventures have not bothered to consult with the Trust during this process.  If I was going to pump £2M into a football club I would certainly be wanting to know the expectations of the club's fans and would be shaping proposals accordingly so that I had the fans onside.  But then, if I were putting money into a football club, it would be with a view of trying to make the football club successful.  I'm not seeing anything in the club statement that gives me any confidence that this strangely named company has the remotest interest in the success of the club.  

The Trust's statement seems to me a little bit tongue in cheek in that it refers to returning to be a successful community based football club.  Clearly, if Seventy7 Ventures become majority shareholders they will call all the shots and the club will become less of a community club than it has ever been.  From what little we know, this "deal" has asset stripping written all over it.  I sincerely hope I am wrong but we need to know an awful lot more  before we can be assured that this is going to benefit the club in the short term, let alone provide longer term security.

[Achfary]

Seventy7 Ventures clearly does not have anywhere near the capacity or means to become a major/majority shareholder.  Going by its latest accounts, it wouldn't be able to cover the salary of one player for a season, let alone purchase any shares.  

For the board to have been this stimulated, there must be a large source of funding that is not wanting to be reported, which brings many, many questions.  It is par for the course that Panos, Gardiner et al. will now fudge everything, to the end.

The shareholders now come to the fore, as do the proper legal processes and protocols, to explore if the true provenance of the investment is using Seventy7Ventures as a conduit and any motivations behind the interest.  

Given the CEO and board's track record and possible motives, and the opaqueness of the situation, some are already on the front foot since yesterday to ensure the articles, regulations and legal processes are followed to the letter.

[big cherly]

10 hours ago, buckett said:

A new owner could see the Trust as being representative of the supporters, in which case it would be in their interest to get the Trust onside.

I like the idea of the Supporters' Trust and see it as a practical route to uniting the fans and giving us a voice.

You say it's not representative of everyone, but it seems it's the best we've got at the moment.

I am a fierce critic of the ST, however they are the recognised formal voice and representation of the fans. They will be the first fan group any new investor will pay attention to as they will influence most of the supporter in whether to back or oppose new investors. Without the ST ‘Kelty’ would have prevailed. 
That said, the ST can’t be seen as the stooge for this new investor. They must be more professional in any dialogue they can get by probing challenging questions on the risks involved in the eyes of the fans, not investors in for a quick buck. Ie security of the stadium / land, Debt accumulation/ directors bonus and dividends. I just want to avoid a Thames Water type position in three years time at the club where the S7V investors have ‘tailed-it’ leaving a mountain of debt for suckers to deal with, whilst they move on to new ‘opportunities’.

Edited July 27, 2024 by big cherly

[STFU]

43 minutes ago, big cherly said:

I am a fierce critic of the ST, however they are the recognised formal voice and representation of the fans. They will be the first fan group any new investor will pay attention to as they will influence most of the supporter in whether to back or oppose new investors. Without the ST ‘Kelty’ would have prevailed. 
That said, the ST can’t be seen as the stooge for this new investor. They must be more professional in any dialogue they can get by probing challenging questions on the risks involved in the eyes of the fans, not investors in for a quick buck. Ie security of the stadium / land, Debt accumulation/ directors bonus and dividends. I just want to avoid a Thames Water type position in three years time at the club where the S7V investors have ‘tailed-it’ leaving a mountain of debt for suckers to deal with, whilst they move on to new ‘opportunities’.

Supporters trust did nothing on the kelty situation.  They refused to support a boycott never organised the protest they said they would and even put out a statement saying fans should buy tickets and merch before changing their mind shortly after.

They have been weak and passive in all of this.  Even the recent statement says they are pleased with the news despite not knowing the first thing about it.

Rome is burning and they're fiddling.

[big cherly]

Understand STFU the thrust of your reply. The ST were somewhat behind the ‘curve’ of the fans and were hesitant (a lot) about picking any route that was contrary to the Boards position. That’s said I beg to differ however on whether Kelty would have been binned without the ST finally coming round to what (most -they are still some that think Kelty was visionary), fans wanted. 
It history and let’s not split hairs. The next immediate battle, (if it’s already not too late), for the soul of the clubs future is proper scrutiny of S7V. With due respect to the ST team, they probably need professional advice on what checks they can do themselves, (because the current board are doing a soap+towel ‘C Whyte’ type of power transfer to cut their losses and head for the hills). A lawyer type person to properly scrutinise the S7V costs money and I’m not sure the ST or enough fans are ‘up’ for such a route?? 
 

It’s clear from the posts in this forum (we two excluded), we have some smart and professional people out there. Possibly they could comment?? 
 

thruppence worth this time. 
bc 

Edited July 28, 2024 by big cherly

[+old caley girl]

On 7/26/2024 at 10:00 PM, CaleyCiuin said:

Why would any new owner want to meet with the Trust given they have advised not to buy season tickets etc. How many Trust members are there, a few hundred? Definitely not representative of everyone. I bought my season ticket a week ago despite the Trust advising not to. Not a very coherent organisation which has very little credibility!

They have credibility due to holding the fans voting right ie shares. So one member or 1000 doesn't matter. 

[CaleyCiuin]

2 hours ago, old caley girl said:

They have credibility due to holding the fans voting right ie shares. So one member or 1000 doesn't matter. 

They may have some voting right relevance, but any credibility they had in many peoples wider view, was tarnished when they sent out conflicting advice to their membership. How would they use any voting influence they have if they can’t even offer a unified position? A few ST members I know have bought season tickets despite what the position of the Trust, so not even representing some of its own members. 

[+Tree]

I keep reading about "they" in relation to the ST. The ST is in effected us all as supporters and for £5 pa anyone can get involved and influence direction. Don't see how sitting outwith and criticising helps supporters have a meaningful voice and just gives oxygen to our inept CE.

[CaleyCiuin]

People are free and entitled to their opinion. Comments and observations should not always be viewed as criticism. Not sure why anyone would join an organisation unless it believed in their views and objectives. Thankfully we are all different and can form our own opinions without having the conflicting view of a few individuals.

[ICTPaisley]

Any reason why commenting has been turned off on the trust website? 
 

Isn’t that just a way to silence the fans opinion? 

[STFU]

8 hours ago, Tree said:

I keep reading about "they" in relation to the ST. The ST is in effected us all as supporters and for £5 pa anyone can get involved and influence direction. Don't see how sitting outwith and criticising helps supporters have a meaningful voice and just gives oxygen to our inept CE.

They ignored the majority view of fans at the last meeting and took an opposing stance.

Troubles me to say it but they've shown as much willingness to listen to fans as the club and also only seem interested in membership fees and donations to the fund they're running.

[Leaky Blinder]

12 hours ago, STFU said:

They ignored the majority view of fans at the last meeting and took an opposing stance.

Playing devils advocate my recollection is the trust took a neutral stance, and certainly agreed with attendees on the priority issue at the meeting which was opposing moving operations south. An opposing stance would have been pro Kelty which they were not. They also did not oppose suggestions of a demonstration. The support have simply failed to mobilise into a coherent group so failure in that regard lies at grass roots level not at trust level. 

The trust certainly need to step up and hold the boards feet to the fire citing the supporters concerns over the potential change in majority shareholding & apparent gaps in credibility over funding going forward. If the current trust representatives feel unable to do so then perhaps trust members should approve available funds being utilised to seek professional insight and support. After all the way things are going there will be nothing else to invest in.

I sincerely believe we need a demonstration strategy at every home game to send a clear message starting with the first home league game. Of course this would require organisation on the part of the grass roots fans who have failed to demonstrate any appetite for militancy across the whole sorry affair thus far. Gardiner knows we are all show and no go so far and has convinced himself of his own infallibility. This latest stunt however, may just be his downfall if we can exploit the weakness in his strategy, and credibility. 

Before the "takeover" announcement I set up a poll to gauge the groundswell of support on the forum for organised protest. From small acorns I suggest we set up a group to discuss if like minded fans are prepared to stand up together as this isn't going away whatever the conservative element of the fan base seem to think. 

Edited July 29, 2024 by Leaky Blinder
Word tweak

[ICT Supporters Trust]

On 7/28/2024 at 10:13 PM, ICTPaisley said:

Any reason why commenting has been turned off on the trust website? 
 

Isn’t that just a way to silence the fans opinion? 

Sorry for the late response. Website comments haven't been turned off but rather a function we never turned on in the first place. I think we are very visible here and on social media for fans to comment so I don't believe not being able to comment on the website would in any way silence the fans opion. In fact that is exactly the opposite of what we are trying to achieve. I believe it would just dilute the messages further but if you think there is value in it we can explore opening this up.  If there is anything you feel you haven't been able to express, please drop us an email [email protected], drop a note on here or social media.

[+CaleyHedgehog]

On 7/29/2024 at 10:56 AM, Leaky Blinder said:

Playing devils advocate my recollection is the trust took a neutral stance, and certainly agreed with attendees on the priority issue at the meeting which was opposing moving operations south. An opposing stance would have been pro Kelty which they were not. They also did not oppose suggestions of a demonstration. The support have simply failed to mobilise into a coherent group so failure in that regard lies at grass roots level not at trust level. 

Totally agree with this point.

I think that the Supporters Trust are in a difficult position, as far as aiming to keep the door open to discussion with the board.

I would imagine that being in the Trust is a fairly thankless task and that you will never please all of the people all of the time. I know I wouldn't want the hassle involved. So I am grateful to those who run the Supporters Trust and thank them for keeping me informed on events.

[bishbashbosh]

35 minutes ago, CaleyHedgehog said:

 

I would imagine that being in the Trust is a fairly thankless task and that you will never please all of the people all of the time. I know I wouldn't want the hassle involved. 

It’s like being a football manager then. 

[+CaleyHedgehog]

2 hours ago, bishbashbosh said:

It’s like being a football manager then. 

Apart from the wages.

[Yngwie]

I’m sure the ST will publish something here soon, but they have informed members of an email they sent to Makwana and his response, in which he is receptive to holding an open meeting in due course with them and fans, and in the meantime says he has already given an interview, that clearly hasn’t been published yet. Doesn’t say who it was with.

[Achfary]

The ST have to go through the process of welcoming and offering support to new owners.  I see from the email response that Ketan has committed to ensuring SG includes the ST in the upcoming meet and greet when he is in Inverness next.  

That's a very concrete output, that the ST no doubt fully expects to happen, and a positive sign.

While I personally have huge reservations on the particulars of the proposed deal, I understand the need for the ST to be extremely diplomatic at this point. 

[STFU]

My reading of the response is that we'll get details when the deal is complete.

He says he'll be in Inverness soon to arrange a meet and greet and not that it will be held soon.

He says he understands questions need answered but details can only be released as things complete.

Most worryingly he's taking council from Gardiner.

If even a small number of the concerns being raised are true/accurate then it could all be too late by the time we get information or a chance to talk with him for clarification.

The supporters trust need to push for talks before the deal is done or there could be no point to it.