Admin by Oct 16th - It's here now!

[STFU]

Feels like the meeting was little more than an exercise to gauge fan feeling on administration while trying to get/keep people on side by rallying everyone behind anger towards Gardiner.

There's nothing in reports that we didn't already know or suspect and no detail on what we're spending £260k a month on. That should have been the first question answered.

[+DoofersDad]

Below is the text of Will Clark's report in the Courier.

 

Interim chairman Scott Young says administration is the most likely outcome at Inverness Caledonian Thistle next week.

However, he says there is still a chance of interested buyers agreeing a deal to takeover the club by next Wednesday.

He was speaking as Inverness Caledonian Thistle held an open meeting to talk about the perilous financial situation it is facing.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle say they need to raise £200,000 by Wednesday, October 16 or the club will be forced to go into administration and become insolvent.

Inverness also need to find between £1.4 and £1.6 million so they can continue until the end of the season.

It was reported that there has been expressions of interest from Denmark, United Arab Emirates and United States about investing in the club.

Young says for any deal to save the club from administration, it must happen by Wednesday, October 16.

But he says at present, administration at Inverness Caledonian Thistle is the most likely course of action.

He said: “I think at the minute it is probably the most likely route that we will have to go down.

“But I am a glass half full, rather than a glass half empty and I still remain optimistic that we might be able to get something over the line before then.

“We may not, in which case, I and the board can hold our hands up that we tried and looked at every option that was available to us.

“If we go down the administration route, we will embrace that and we will look to come out of it even stronger.

“But there are communications with several interested parties.”

Around 200 people turned out to the open meeting on Monday night at the Caledonian Stadium where they had the opportunity to ask the board questions.

Along with Young, also taking questions were directors Graeme Bennett and Gordon Fyfe, chief executive officer Charlie Christie, honorary president Roddy Ross and financial consultant Alan Savage.

Young was pleased with the turnout at the meeting, saying it showed fans cared for the future of the club.

“I am a fan first and foremost before being a director. We were as honest as we could be to questions and I think fans appreciated that. They might not have agreed with everything we said or we have done. But they realise the situation that we are in. They will go away more understanding than they were before the meeting tonight.”

He added: “All going well I see us having a future, I don’t know what kind of future at the minute, but hopefully a future where we can learn a lot of things.”

Alan Savage, who was appointed as a financial consultant for Inverness Caledonian Thistle believes that administration is the best way forward for the club.

He believes that it is the club’s best chance of survival, even if it means a 15 point deduction in League One and having to fight a battle against relegation this season.

Savage said: “The club has the best chance of survival if it goes through administration. If it falls into liquidation, it has no chance. It is the better of two evils.

“If we are insolvent then something has to be done.”

Savage, who is the owner at recruitment company Orion Group, also admitted that administration would result in staff at the club losing jobs, including players leaving the club.

But he said they would do their best to look after them and also ensure the club has a future to look forward to.

He said: ”There will be some players who will move on which we would try to mitigate at Orion and we would try to find people jobs.

“We will try and look after some of the suppliers who may suffer.

“We are a community club at heart, we want to do the right things.

“We are in a mess due to five years of neglect and we have to face up to that.

“If we can go into administration in control, which we will be, that will benefit the club. We will have the ball and we will run it.”

 

 

 

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Ross Morrison's legacy......................... 

[Jack Waddington]

To be honest, it was a strange one. On the one hand, I'm glad the nerves have been settled on Admin, but on the other, the whole thing felt a bit short, and the whole "lets focus going forward" angle kinda shot down most of the point of the meeting, given the grievances in the ST Email were to be brought up for that exact reason.

High (or low) light, mind, was the collective "Jesus f*cking Christ" when it was announced that Gardiner spaffed away an £80k compensation fee from Carlisle for Cammy Harper, and torched half a million on a 4 year deal with Puma...in May...when we were already 10 miles up **** creek...

Edited October 7, 2024 by Jack Waddington

[Jack Waddington]

2 hours ago, RiG said:

Maybe it's just resting in someone's account... 

 

[Satan]

7 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

 

I think £200K seems to be less than the average monthly expenditure. I don’t know what turnover has been because the accounts aren’t required to state it, but £2 million mightn’t be a bad guess. Add the projected £1.2M for the current year to that to get expenditure and you’ve got £3.2M which is a bit over £260K in a month. There therefore has to be some concern if (or rather when) the £200K isn’t reached, then how are they going to manage to pay the October wages?

That's my point. It doesn't cost 200k + per month to pay wages, put on games and keep the power on...what is the overspend for?

[bdu98196]

1 hour ago, Satan said:

That's my point. It doesn't cost 200k + per month to pay wages, put on games and keep the power on...what is the overspend for?

It was mooted before that the club was paying significant accommodation and relocation costs. IF we pay for certain players (contract or loan) - a flat plus bills, car, travel back 'home' + general expenses that could be £3k a month on top of a salary (not withstanding some of those services may be owned by director or their acquaintances). Add onto that directors/managers etc expenses such as those listed above for the players but much higher level (luxury) travel, business meetings, lunches, hospitality, accommodation etc - could have been spending significant cash every month for 'jollies' under the guise of networking & work.

All of the above is speculation but if you see it as a cash cow to milk for personal gains its easy for directors and senior levels to exploit it all

Others we know about

Paying off Dodds

Paying off Robbo?

Paying any cancellation penalties for the Kelty deal

Crazy puma kit deal (thats £10k pm)

 

[+Moogthurso]

Very impressed with directors last night. Honest , forthwright and in pain.

The crowdfunder is essential.

It shows cash on hand to administrator. It shows community support and shows support for savage who will be £1m down by end of administration. Support if you can all the way to 16th. 

With a 1500 fans a week we can survive administration but not liquidation. But every matchday has to make money. Every matchday we should celebrate the amount of money we made not the crowd size. Then this could never happen again.  Every week until we make money tell us the loss on the tannoy.  Open everyone's eyes. 

The council should hang their heads in shame with their lack of support and the impact of the planning decision .Use your vote when you get one. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[big cherly]

11 hours ago, RiG said:

Staggering incompetence with a sprinkle of malicious intent. 

Under Gardiners reign we're probably finished as a club aiming to be in the top tier of Scottish football for a long, long time. 

Only one person smiling and laughing all the way to the bank here is good old Scott Gardener. Stitched up and played the Chairman, Broad members and others like the fools they were! 

He’s made a tidy old sum old from his ‘stint’ in teucherland. Managed to bring the club to its knees and will no doubt walk away winning the legal case with AS.
The warning signs were there before we took him on (Hearts and Dundee), but we couldn’t resist his beguiling allure. 
I’m sure there more damage to some other gullible club down the line for SG to do his magic. 

Edited October 8, 2024 by big cherly

[bdu98196]

16 minutes ago, Moogthurso said:

Very impressed with directors last night.

All they have done is blame others, no point saying 'we take responsibility now' & 'we cant look back'.Its too late as where was the ownership of responsibilities during their time - IMO however we restructure or end up there needs a clear out with Bennett & Fyfe and any of the historical legacy gone too.

Watched the video, overall they got a fairly easy ride TBH. AS spoke well but that I feel protected the vitrol towards the directors and gave them an out to pass everything over to Alan or Charlie knowing they are more palatable to the fanbase.

Edited October 8, 2024 by bdu98196

[big cherly]

1 hour ago, bdu98196 said:

All they have done is blame others, no point saying 'we take responsibility now' & 'we cant look back'.Its too late as where was the ownership of responsibilities during their time - IMO however we restructure or end up there needs a clear out with Bennett & Fyfe and any of the historical legacy gone too.

Watched the video, overall they got a fairly easy ride TBH. AS spoke well but that I feel protected the vitrol towards the directors and gave them an out to pass everything over to Alan or Charlie knowing they are more palatable to the fanbase.

Any clear out must not include grazza, fyfey or charlie, they ‘did nuffin’!

Edited October 8, 2024 by big cherly

[Jack Waddington]

1 hour ago, bdu98196 said:

All they have done is blame others, no point saying 'we take responsibility now' & 'we cant look back'.Its too late as where was the ownership of responsibilities during their time - IMO however we restructure or end up there needs a clear out with Bennett & Fyfe and any of the historical legacy gone too.

Watched the video, overall they got a fairly easy ride TBH. AS spoke well but that I feel protected the vitrol towards the directors and gave them an out to pass everything over to Alan or Charlie knowing they are more palatable to the fanbase.

In fairness, on reflection, I can see why it was a "look forward" approach, cos all the rats left the sinking ship before they had to shoulder any blame for causing the ship to sink in the first place. Woulda just been a load of "I'm not sure"s and unanswerable questions, cos nobody there is senior enough to have had a foot in those events.

[STFU]

I've just watched the video and found it very disappointing. It was a total poor me show from the remaining directors who spoke more like they felt they were victims when they are in fact the enablers who allowed this to happen.

The audacity of Gordy Fyfe to stand up and wax lyrical and take credit for the community trust whilst totally ignoring his responsibility as a director of the football club is other level.

I still can't understand how they can claim ignorance to what was happening when so many fans on the outside could see it. As I've said before where do they think all the loans they were giving were going?

They prattled on about puma deals and losing money on young players who moved on but that's only accounts for a fraction of the money the club has lost in the last 5 years.

They avoided questions they didn't want to answer by saying they wanted to look forward but spent most if the time themselves talking about how they'd been duped in the past. Grassa even tried to defend Ross Morrison at one point which was unbelievable.

Scott Young is the only one I'd make any allowance for and the other two should hang their head in shame at having pushed him to the front the way they have.

Now more than ever I want administration. Not only to try and fix the clubs financial position but because the last of that board (Scott aside) also need to be gone.

[+snorbens_caleyman]

57 minutes ago, big cherly said:

Any clear out must not include grazza, fyfey or charlie, they ‘did nuffin’!

Ain't that the problem?

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Will the wealthy Chairperson of Carlisle F C do the honourable thing and put some solid money into the Fund?

[Charles Bannerman]

I remain concerned about this document - a charge filed with Companies House in January, suggesting that the large sums loaned by Ross Morrison have security such as the stadium and car parks, which could hence be called in on failure to pay.

I asked questions at last night’s meeting which seemed to elicit the answer that, despite various statements that this had/ hadn’t/ had etc been written off, the £3.4M was still very much owed, although administration had the scope to cancel this. The answer from the top table indicated that these loans would be converted to shares, but I’m still not clear as to whether the stadium is in any remaining danger of being “claimed” if this gets messy.

Any arrangement with a “Right… if you can’t pay, I’m having the stadium” potential - which this Charge appears to say - has got to be a worry, and I’m not sure if even Alan Savage has a full answer to that yet.

Edited October 8, 2024 by Charles Bannerman

[robbo1985]

With the information about the Puma kit deal , how could the club be paying so much yet have a very popular away kit that nobody in a large size can now buy until (reportedly) January??!   It's mind-boggling....

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Just now, Charles Bannerman said:

I remain concerned about this document - a charge filed with Companies House in January, suggesting that the large sums loaned by Ross Morrison have security such as the stadium and car parks, which could hence be called in on failure to pay.

Who authorised this? Other than Morrison, who had the power?

The same goes for the Carlisle gift - was Gardiner authorised to do this especially at a time when it looked like his time was up?

[+snorbens_caleyman]

14 minutes ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Who authorised this? Other than Morrison, who had the power?

The same goes for the Carlisle gift - was Gardiner authorised to do this especially at a time when it looked like his time was up?

The charge document at Companies House was signed off by Scott Young, and witnessed (presumably he didn't have sign-off powers) by Gardiner.

As for Carlisle - as CEO Gardiner would have had some financial powers with, one would expect, an upper limit on how much he could spend or commit without consulting the Board.  I suspect that no one will have thought about him turning down potential income!

[bdu98196]

14 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

The charge document at Companies House was signed off by Scott Young, and witnessed (presumably he didn't have sign-off powers) by Gardiner.

Cant be so, afterall the board members had no idea what was going on and the 'big bad man' did it?

[ICTPaisley]

1 hour ago, robbo1985 said:

With the information about the Puma kit deal , how could the club be paying so much yet have a very popular away kit that nobody in a large size can now buy until (reportedly) January??!   It's mind-boggling....

Even more mind boggling that we are struggling to survive and we still have a merchandise available. I’d have thought this would have been snapped up by now. 

[Huisdean]

While understandable fans want  answers to many questions over what has gone on, surely the focus, for the foreseeable future has to be how the club comes out of this.

I couldn't get a ticket for the meeting bit saw the list of questions from the supporters trust. If they thought they could all be discussed and answered last night,  they were on another planet. Yes, the questions need answering and the board should be given time to deal with this.  As I have said though, that cannot be the priority right now,  saving the club is.

As for Messrs Bennett and Fyfe being directors, they need cleared out, especially Mr Fyfe as he has done nothing for the club as far as I  can see.

As for us fans, we really do need to turn up in far greater numbers than wr have been and buy merchandise to support the club financially.  You Hever know the merchandise may become a collectors item

[robbo1985]

The problem is that even fans who want to buy the new away kit in a large or extra large size to support the club financially can't until (reportedly) January.  If, as we are led to believe, we paid well over the odds for a Puma deal why are there no shirts in, what I assume to be, two of the most popular sizes?  Plus there is no new training wear and various pieces of last season's gear is out of stock.

I know we need to move forward but these issues are having a lasting impact on attempting to do so positively.  If we had an adequately stocked shop surely this would generate much needed funds.

Edited October 8, 2024 by robbo1985

[Scotty]

Going forward, I would like to see only Scott Young remain of the current board. He is newer on the scene, not tarnished with the same brush (quite so much) and I know he has been working with the Trust and others to try and be more open, even before SG was removed from post when talking to fans was almost seen as treason in the corridor of power. 

It's a hard one with GB, I do believe he has the club at heart, and there is a rumour that he did tender his resignation at one point several months ago but rescinded it. However, at the end of the day he was there through much of the past few years of the Gardiner hurricane, and as a former ICT player himself should at the very least been somewhat vociferous when players were being treated like sh1t or at the very least speak with them about things. Several players have said no-one spoke to them at all and that is plain wrong. Inaction on this front is tantamount to condoning it in my eyes, but that's just my opinion. If AS believes he is not tarnished or has something to bring to the table going forward, then I can live with him still being in post, but if it's the same old 'jobs for the boys' or sentimental positioning because he was a player and now owns the Caley Club then no thanks.  

I would like AS to remain in some capacity. By the time this is over he will have dropped nearly £1m into the pot and restored some sanity, albeit too little too late it would seem. If we are to come out of this, then we will need strong leadership, and all hands to the pump. We will also need governance and sensibility if we do start to take small steps and someone wants to start taking more risky bigger steps. He - I believe - can provide this, assuming he has the stomach for it and doesn't want to just relax like most 70+ year olds. 

As for whoever else comes on board ... I would hope this is where the Trust can gain a representative for the fans. If we are headed for administration then Stronger Together monies could hopefully be used to secure a shareholding and representation. Other than that, it has to be someone bringing something to the table and hopefully not serial fantasists or venture capitalists or equity partners ... any of those and we are well and truly f***ed !  

 

[big cherly]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

It's a hard one with GB,

Is it? Yes, like Charlie, he’s a pal of AS and both have been sheltered under the AS umbrella. Neither mentioned by any players dumped, but take from it what want! It’s a free world. 
It’s been a masterclass so far from AS for me.
# Managed to offload the people he wanted (main inept individuals responsible for the plight).
# Position them to take the bulk of the criticism and flak. 
# Corral the remaining board members and stakeholders to get behind the Admin route. 
# Limited attendance to Mondays meeting to a controlled audience. (Keep the dissent to a min).
# Pre prime the attendees with the agenda (forward thinking debate only).

# Steer the conversation towards support for the admin route. 
# Entice people the carrot of potential investors in the background to take a piece of the action once Admin is settled.

So far well executed and going to a well thought out plan in my view. It will hurt the individuals most where AS wants to hurt them. I’ll declare my hand by wanting AS to succeed. The next few months will be interesting watching how the cards fall!