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

[Jack Waddington]

4 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Kingsmills is now housing

Nah, I'm aware that the part that was Kingsmills Park has been flattened, was more meaning the bit that is now Fraser Park, or even across the way at Walker Park

[Scotty]

1 minute ago, Jack Waddington said:

Nah, I'm aware that the part that was Kingsmills Park has been flattened, was more meaning the bit that is now Fraser Park, or even across the way at Walker Park

I think at this point, any Caley Thistle fan will not care where we play (in Inverness) so long as we have a team who are allowed to play and not liquidated out of existence.  

[Huisdean]

1 hour ago, Jack Waddington said:

Nah, I'm aware that the part that was Kingsmills Park has been flattened, was more meaning the bit that is now Fraser Park, or even across the way at Walker Park

Much too small a site and am sure residents would put up a fight against any proposal for a stadium. 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

1 hour ago, Jack Waddington said:

Nah, I'm aware that the part that was Kingsmills Park has been flattened, was more meaning the bit that is now Fraser Park, or even across the way at Walker Park

I don't think either is anywhere near big enough, especially if you take into account the need for parking.  Highland Cricket Club wouldn't be pleased about loss of Fraser Park, and Walker Park was barely big enough for a pitch - let alone a stadium - when I played there as a kid.  Plus, as CB said re the UHI, there would be traffic problems on the surrounding small roads.

Would groundsharing with Clach be an option to consider?  Although again there would be traffic and parking issues.

[Starscape]

22 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

I don't think either is anywhere near big enough, especially if you take into account the need for parking.  Highland Cricket Club wouldn't be pleased about loss of Fraser Park, and Walker Park was barely big enough for a pitch - let alone a stadium - when I played there as a kid.  Plus, as CB said re the UHI, there would be traffic problems on the surrounding small roads.

Would groundsharing with Clach be an option to consider?  Although again there would be traffic and parking issues.

Depends what league we're in. I'm not sure how much we would need in event of liquidation.

[DWH]

Just when I thought we beginning to turn the corner.

Awful to think that 10 years ago we were riding high in the Premiership and on course to winning the cup.

[caley100]

37 minutes ago, DWH said:

Just when I thought we beginning to turn the corner.

Awful to think that 10 years ago we were riding high in the Premiership and on course to winning the cup.

Incredibly sad!   All these administrators, power brokers and large shareholders just need to get round a big feckin table and thrash it out face to bloody face!

[+DoofersDad]

Maybe we can get Donald Trump to broker a deal?

[robbylad]

2 minutes ago, DoofersDad said:

Maybe we can get Donald Trump to broker a deal?

He'll annex the car park. Job done 

[tm4tj]

[big cherly]

1 hour ago, tm4tj said:

Great to see we Scots can always see a dark humour when things begin to look a bit bleak. Well done all. I’ve been nagging and picking on some posters recently that do not agree with my view. Seems oh so petty and insignificant now when the clubs existence is on the line. 
Just want say well done, bringing the spirit above, makes me more confident we will come out the other side with the club intact. 
bc

Edited March 18 by big cherly

[STFU]

Feels like the best thing Savage could do right now is get out of the middle of things and let the administrators do the job they are paid to do.

[Scotty]

1 hour ago, DoofersDad said:

Maybe we can get Donald Trump to broker a deal?

mmm, that would be 'Tariff-ic' ...

I should setup an autocorrect on here so that any reference to that particular individual is automatically changed to TangoMan.

[off topic]: It is safe to say he is not very popular north of the border right now with threats to annex Canada and make it the 51st state. He is single-handedly responsible for this shift in the polls right now where the liberals were tanking under Trudeau and now surging under the new PM, Mark Carney. He is possibly the only man on the planet who could potentially have got us in more trouble than we are now if he were in charge the last few years. 

 

[+Northern_jaggie]

What about the land at Harbour Rd/Burnett Rd? Parking issues are obvious (more land to the south of Burnett Rd) but perhaps enough space for a scaled down stadium there. Handy for the police station for when the old firm come and visit and the fire service can put the flares out. 

AS buys up the Inverness Golf Centre to make a new social club right next door. 

[Robert]

10 minutes ago, Northern_jaggie said:

What about the land at Harbour Rd/Burnett Rd? Parking issues are obvious (more land to the south of Burnett Rd) but perhaps enough space for a scaled down stadium there. Handy for the police station for when the old firm come and visit and the fire service can put the flares out. 

AS buys up the Inverness Golf Centre to make a new social club right next door. 

That’s owned by David Cameron, I believe, and has planning granted for mixed use, including retail and student accommodation.

[+Gringo]

18 hours ago, Scotty said:

....and Telford Street is retail so neither are an option. 

The rate retail stores are closing or moving out of the city we could go back to Telford in a couple of years.

[ictchris]

Reading stuff about building a new stadium really makes me worry about what is going on.  We need a buyer for the club but haven't had a bid, now we are talking about a new ground?  That will cost millions and would put any buyer off.

I think things are very  bad and liquidation is probably the most likely outcome at this point.

[Charles Bannerman]

20 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Reading stuff about building a new stadium really makes me worry about what is going on.  We need a buyer for the club but haven't had a bid, now we are talking about a new ground?  That will cost millions and would put any buyer off.

I think things are very  bad and liquidation is probably the most likely outcome at this point.

Precisely. I’ve been trying here to highlight how difficult the provision of a new stadium was even back in the mid-90s for a brand new initiative of a club, with strong backing from the Local Enterprise Company and a great deal of public funding plus the incentive of bringing national league football to Inverness.

For starters, and before you even consider the huge obstacle of a site, where would the substantial seven figure construction sum come from, given that the real value of the club’s assets is very likely exceeded by the extent of its liabilities?

The manner in which debts were allowed to accumulate is open to intense criticism, but that money is actually owed and it would be a generous creditor indeed who would accept less than £1 in the £ if the club had any prospect of wallowing in the kind money a brand new stadium would cost.

Unfortunately, I sometimes detect the sentiment that the local community somehow owes ICT a living in some way. It doesn’t.

Edited March 19 by Charles Bannerman

[Huisdean]

Apologies in advance if I've got this wrong.

As I understand it, the directors who made loans to the club agreed to write these off. Don't know if that was before or after we went into administration. Either way, surely the first task of the administrators was to get that legally agreed but this doesn't seem to have happened, why?.

The other point is what security was granted to Morrison to "guarantee " his loan. Again as I understand it, the area involved is sub leased from the Council and is, effectively worthless as no other activity can currently be undertaken  to bring in revenue to Morrison.  Something stinks there.

As I stated at the outset, I may have this all wrong but if anyone knows any answers.....

[RednBlackComeback]

I think AS's coments about a new stadium are maybe being blown out of proportion a wee bit. He began the subject by saying that the current stadium is too big and expensive for the club to run (IMO it's an awful stadium anyway - the stands are far too far away from the pitch, and it's wide open to the elements). He then made off the cuff suggestion of a new stadium at the campus. In our current predicament, this is obviously pie in the sky!

Perhaps there's some mileage in it in as much as he might just be planting the seed that there could be potential for any new owner to come in and flog the stadium lease to some unrelated Freeport-interested business and move the club to a new location? 

Maybe RM has similar thoughts, and if the club was to be liquidated and he's left holding the lease to some vacant land near the Freeport, he might stand to make significantly more money that he's currently owed/secured by selling the lease?

[+snorbens_caleyman]

1 hour ago, Huisdean said:

The other point is what security was granted to Morrison to "guarantee " his loan. Again as I understand it, the area involved is sub leased from the Council and is, effectively worthless as no other activity can currently be undertaken  to bring in revenue to Morrison.

The security has nothing to do with the land around the stadium.  The loan is secured against "ALL [the club's] PROPERTY, UNDERTAKING, ASSETS
(INCLUDING UNCALLED CAPITAL) AND RIGHTS OWNED NOW OR IN THE FUTURE".

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC149117/filing-history/MzQwNzI2NTY2NWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

I'm not a financial or business person, but it looks to me as though that means that any asset of the club - from money (we have none), incoming transfer fees (we have none), or the stadium itself (oh dear) - could be used to repay the loan.

 

 

[big cherly]

48 minutes ago, RednBlackComeback said:

I think AS's coments about a new stadium are maybe being blown out of proportion a wee bit. He began the subject by saying that the current stadium is too big and expensive for the club to run (IMO it's an awful stadium anyway - the stands are far too far away from the pitch, and it's wide open to the elements). He then made off the cuff suggestion of a new stadium at the campus. In our current predicament, this is obviously pie in the sky!

Perhaps there's some mileage in it in as much as he might just be planting the seed that there could be potential for any new owner to come in and flog the stadium lease to some unrelated Freeport-interested business and move the club to a new location? 

Maybe RM has similar thoughts, and if the club was to be liquidated and he's left holding the lease to some vacant land near the Freeport, he might stand to make significantly more money that he's currently owed/secured by selling the lease?

I agree RBC, talk of a new stadium is exactly that, - ‘talk’. However in the ongoing mess that is the negotiations (misused term here), AS has very little wriggle room left in these talks and the threat of moving to a new stadium is a legitimate point to press. Put aside for now (I know, I know), where would play if we survive, it will have serious financial consequences on the lease holders RM DC and anyone else in that boat. Put simply it’s a doomsday play but one RM and the rest of them go down with the ship.

For now everything regarding any negotiations comes down simply to money (and what level is an agreement reached).

As AS says we have an albatross in the way of the stadium running cost for a ground that we normally fill a quarter of with fans. 
bc 

[CaleyD]

Just putting it out there....

What if someone connected to the energy industry was trying to do a deal with HIE to free up the site of the stadium so it could realise it's full development potential?  What if a third party controlled part of that land and needed some persuasion to hand it over on the cheap?  What if HIE had some sway on land elsewhere upon which a stadium could be sited....say a smaller, more efficient stadium that could be "swapped" for the current one?

If such a person existed, how might they go about making the above happen?

[ictchris]

We can just build the stadium where the battery farm was going to go, we own that land anyway, or David Cameron does, and all the goodwill we've built up with the people around there and the council we'll sail through the planning process.

[ictchris]

I heard a rumour that there's a statement coming today btw.