Historic debt 'written off'

[caley100]

After a meeting today Alan Savage announces big news re debt.

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/watch-massive-burden-removed-from-inverness-caledonian-th-358828/

 

good news for the future.

[Charles Bannerman]

There was a press conference at the stadium this afternoon where, among other things, it was revealed that a number of people - including Ross Morrison - to whom money was owed have agreed to convert the debt to equity in the club or to write it off completely. This follows a meeting this morning and is worth millions.
I wasn’t there myself, but I’ve heard the press conference audio and this, to me, is pretty major. This is my BBC colleague Iain MacInnes’s online report.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clyw88kx84xo
 

And it emerges that Alan Savage has also received a goodwill phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson!

Edited August 19, 2024 by Charles Bannerman

[Scotty]

the devil will be in the details, and we are yet to see how this plays out with those who agreed to convert debt to equity, (for example, does Ross Morrison now become our biggest shareholder with 2.1m shares?) but on the face of it good news and Mr Savage is to be applauded.  

 

"On a hugely significant day for the troubled 30-year-old outfit, Savage revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson was among those offering to help, having got in touch to urge Caley Thistle to stick by manager Duncan Ferguson."

 

If he is encouraging us to stick by DF then that's likely not helping unless he is going to give him a management masterclass, but if he is offering to use his contacts and knowledge to help us out that would be massive!   

 

[Satan]

Amazing what the removal of one thorn can achieve.

[Robert]

Potentially a very significant day.

I loved his comments about Gardiner too!

Edited August 19, 2024 by Robert

[Charles Bannerman]

7 minutes ago, Scotty said:

the devil will be in the details, and we are yet to see how this plays out with those who agreed to convert debt to equity, (for example, does Ross Morrison now become our biggest shareholder with 2.1m shares?) but on the face of it good news and Mr Savage is to be applauded.  

 

"On a hugely significant day for the troubled 30-year-old outfit, Savage revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson was among those offering to help, having got in touch to urge Caley Thistle to stick by manager Duncan Ferguson."

 

If he is encouraging us to stick by DF then that's likely not helping unless he is going to give him a management masterclass, but if he is offering to use his contacts and knowledge to help us out that would be massive!   

 

If that’s the case, then it would totally revamp the shareholding structure. Would RM’s stake come to as much as 2.1M share? I thought he was owed around £1.4M and I don’t think he has a massive current stake. It’s not been made clear who have opted for a write-off and who for a conversion to equity, but I can’t see anyone acquiring a massively influential “Makwanaesque” holding in what is currently a fairly diffuse 4 million total, which might (?) go up to something like 6 million depending on who has opted for what.

[Scotty]

Ross Morrison was a fan before he was chairman and when we were discussing the potential involvement of a third-party, he told me he would sell his stake for peanuts if the right offer came in for the club. This was with his fan hat on rather than chairman's hat, so I believe him. He truly wanted/wants what's best for the club. Hopefully, he has written a portion off and (quite rightly) taken some in equity. History wont be overly kind to him as he will forever be mentioned in the same breath as our former CEO, but the reality - IMHO - is we would have gone under quite some time ago if he did not do his own version of an Uncle Roy impersonation and throw money at the club. Shame that the person he threw it at did not seem to use it well.   

The reality is that any of our creditors could have made life difficult and trigger an "insolvency event" so with Alan Savage now gaining broad agreement with them, then hopefully we can move forward cautiously. I think we are in good hands now, and engagement seems to be key. We are still deep in the forest and far from getting out of the woods but at least Scout Leader Savage seems to have the compass!       

[Charles Bannerman]

1 minute ago, Scotty said:

Ross Morrison was a fan before he was chairman and when we were discussing the potential involvement of a third-party, he told me he would sell his stake for peanuts if the right offer came in for the club. This was with his fan hat on rather than chairman's hat, so I believe him. He truly wanted/wants what's best for the club. Hopefully, he has written a portion off and (quite rightly) taken some in equity. History wont be overly kind to him as he will forever be mentioned in the same breath as our former CEO, but the reality - IMHO - is we would have gone under quite some time ago if he did not do his own version of an Uncle Roy impersonation and throw money at the club. Shame that the person he threw it at did not seem to use it well.   

The reality is that any of our creditors could have made life difficult and trigger an "insolvency event" so with Alan Savage now gaining broad agreement with them, then hopefully we can move forward cautiously. I think we are in good hands now, and engagement seems to be key. We are still deep in the forest and far from getting out of the woods but at least Scout Leader Savage seems to have the compass!       

It’s interesting that we are now celebrating something around half a dozen benefactors having dispensed in some way or another with loans of values which are unclear. In other words we just don’t know how much debt the club has been in - and nor obviously did Alan Savage until he kept uncovering more and more liabilities during last week. We also need to remember that, even though the 2022-23 accounts were belatedly published in June, even they only run to 30.5.23. so are almost 15 months behind the curve, so goodness knows how much worse the numbers to May 2024 will be…. albeit now partly resolved.

One other revelation was that there are now serious steps being taken to pay creditors - DandE Coches and Red Pepper were among those mentioned - and it was confirmed that the Puma situation has been resolved…. which seems to be an issue on its own! 

[Yngwie]

I think the comments made about Duncan Ferguson mean he’s not getting sacked any time soon. Savage wouldn’t have mentioned what Sir Alex said otherwise.

[Kind of Blue]

This is a massive step in the right direction and all the shareholders concerned are to be commended for writing off/converting their loans. It is also very encouraging to hear that Dougie MacGillvary is getting involved with the club again.

[+snorbens_caleyman]

1 hour ago, Charles Bannerman said:

And it emerges that Alan Savage has also received a goodwill phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson!

It looks like you can buy him off with a case of red wine!

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/duncan-alex-ferguson-man-utd-27903305

 

Great news!

 

[RednBlackComeback]

Pretty monumental news. Well done to all involved. 

Let's hope this is another step closer to ending the darkest period in the club’s history!

[Yngwie]

Noticed that the BBC article on this states that the emergency funding Savage has put in enabled Saturday’s match to go ahead. Wow, if that’s how bad things are/were.

[STFU]

 

[tm4tj]

It begs the question. Why was this not done before we got into this mess. Did Scot Gardiner really run such an oligarchy. Incredible.

[CaleyCanary]

Really, really good news - Mr Savage you have worked wonders sorting out so much so quickly - thank you!

[Scotty]

10 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

It begs the question. Why was this not done before we got into this mess. Did Scot Gardiner really run such an oligarchy. Incredible.

According to the clip above, he sat on 7000 unread emails! 

what a breath of fresh air Alan Savage is right now. 

[+old caley girl]

17 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

It begs the question. Why was this not done before we got into this mess. Did Scot Gardiner really run such an oligarchy. Incredible.

Yes with the blessing of the ex Chairman 

[Charles Bannerman]

55 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

It begs the question. Why was this not done before we got into this mess. Did Scot Gardiner really run such an oligarchy. Incredible.

That is the absolutely central question. Totally without any benefit of hindsight, it was clear to a great number of people as early as 2018-19 that there was a severe problem when £1 million of new shares were needed to keep the ship afloat.

The best take on it that I can make is that the problem was ignored for far too long and then naive faith was placed on a series of four money making wheezes, all of which collapsed spectacularly. Of these, the Concert Company was also hugely damaging to the club’s reputation and I wonder if there would have been grounds for sacking Gardiner on the strength of that alone? Then there seemed to be this blind faith that nothing could possibly go wrong with the Battery Farm and I wonder how much was spent and committed on the blind assumption that it would produce the goods? And in similar vein, it appears that this naive faith continued to the bitter end, since I believe that new signings were made on the say-so of “new owner” Ketan Makwana.

As for the club’s reputation… recent years have seen this utterly trashed due to the manner in which it went about its business. However I think the manner now of its renaissance, especially off the back of Gardiner’s absurdly belated but hugely welcome departure, stands every chance of its steady restoration.

Edited August 19, 2024 by Charles Bannerman

[TheNorthStander]

43 minutes ago, STFU said:

 

Surely sitting on 7,000 unanswered emails comes under gross misconduct?

[Scotty]

1 minute ago, TheNorthStander said:

Surely sitting on 7,000 unanswered emails comes under gross misconduct?

Thats the unread ones, what about the 'read but ignored' ones!

 

[Satan]

40 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

It begs the question. Why was this not done before we got into this mess. Did Scot Gardiner really run such an oligarchy. Incredible.

My thoughts exactly,  so many notable people on the board, or owning substantial amounts of shares, and it was left until the 11th hour and possible sale to a disruptor.

Thank god they changed all the locks last week.

 

[STFU]

Ketan Makwana should celebrating dodging a bullet. Not a chance he was doing a deal knowing what we know now.

[Robert]

But as Scotty’s excellent post highlighted, his fanciful bid was the catalyst needed to get everything and everyone pulling together.

[tm4tj]

Club statement regarding today's Savageing of Gardiner

READ HERE