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

[Charles Bannerman]

I don’t have time to post any more than this for now but Panos Thomas has emailed shareholders with a very lengthy update where the headline looks like being confirmation that, unless £200K can be raised by October 16th, then Administration would be “inevitable” since the club would be insolvent.

Edited October 2 by Charles Bannerman

[RednBlackComeback]

Looks like £200k will be a regular monthly requirement then?

[STFU]

Is there any indication of how much time the £200k buys the club?

I suspect it's not long and rednblack may be right to think it's a monthly requirement.

Feels scarily like the kind of gamble the previous chairman and ceo were taking by throwing money at things in the hope of rescue coming down the line.

Sad reality is the club is unsustainable as is. Time to pull the plug and start fresh. £200k would go much further starting from zero than it will trying to fill a gaping black hole.

[RiG]

A very lengthy and very disheartening update:

 

[+snorbens_caleyman]

4 minutes ago, STFU said:

Is there any indication of how much time the £200k buys the club?

I suspect it's not long and rednblack may be right to think it's a monthly requirement.

"The amount that is estimated to be required to get to the end of this season (in terms of cash requirement, potential claims and backlog creditors) is in the region of £1.4 – £1.6 million. This figure assumes a second place finish in the league... "

[LisleRightPeg]

It’s time to be realistic. The current club structure is not sustainable, throwing money at it to just keep afloat is going to achieve nothing. The club needs to reset and start again with a proper structure and strategy. 

[Charles Bannerman]

4 minutes ago, LisleRightPeg said:

It’s time to be realistic. The current club structure is not sustainable, throwing money at it to just keep afloat is going to achieve nothing. The club needs to reset and start again with a proper structure and strategy. 

At the moment the club is attempting to sustain full time football on Third Tier income streams…. before you even consider the vast seven figure black hole that has been building up for the last seven years or so.

[ictchris]

Every update just seems to be the same - we are making massive losses, it's unsustainable, we need more funding.  What's the plan for getting out from under this?  You can't do a monthly crowdfnder for £200,000.

[RednBlackComeback]

30 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

"The amount that is estimated to be required to get to the end of this season (in terms of cash requirement, potential claims and backlog creditors) is in the region of £1.4 – £1.6 million. This figure assumes a second place finish in the league... "

Even if somehow the £1.5m was secured from somewhere, . . . . 'second place finish in the league' ? - not a chance, with the current management incumbents!

[+snorbens_caleyman]

58 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Every update just seems to be the same - we are making massive losses, it's unsustainable, we need more funding.  What's the plan for getting out from under this?  You can't do a monthly crowdfnder for £200,000.

That has to be the main question for the meeting on Monday.  If £200K is raised by mid-month, then what next?  £200K every month?  Or what?

And they have to be brutally honest about the chances of any major investments coming in.

Note to Board:  Assuming a second place finish in the league is not "brutally honest" - it's the kind of pie-in-the-sky thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.

[Charles Bannerman]

Based on last year’s pay outs for League One, the difference between a second place finish and somewhere further down amounts to chickenfeed compared with the financial magnitude of the problem. This strikes me as a complete red herring…. and possibly an attempt to pass some of the onus on to the football side.

[+DoofersDad]

It is a long letter from which much emerges.  I'll pick up on 4 points just now.  I'll apologise in advance for sounding so negative.

One of the things mentioned which might help is to get the 7/8acres of land surrounding the ground re-conveyed to the Club.  The Current leaseholder is ICT Properties Ltd and it will come as no surprise to anyone that the sole directors are Ross Morrison and David Cameron.  Interestingly, the last financial statement of ICTP shows an unspecified debt of over £4.5m.  I don't know if anyone could shed any light on what that might be?

It mentions that former Directors' loans total £3.425m.  That would suggest that none of them have yet taken the appropriate steps to write off their loans as it was previously suggested they would.  If any of them have done the decent thing, then that should have been specifically noted so they they are not seen as quite so culpable as their colleagues in this shambles.

Apparently only Alan Savage has dipped into his pocket.  One assumes, therefore, that none of the current Board have dipped into their pockets to help address the mess they are responsible for.

On a more general note I am really quite angry about the tone of the letter.  It comes across as though the Board are and have been doing all in their power to get the club on a sounder financial footing.  The truth is they share a significant level of corporate culpability for decisions made and not made over recent years.  That being the case, it is very disappointing that there is not a hint of contrition or an apology for their part in all of this.

Against this background, it is difficult to see why the fans should now be expected to dip to their pockets just to delay what is increasingly looking like inevitable administration.

[+DoofersDad]

1 hour ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Note to Board:  Assuming a second place finish in the league is not "brutally honest" - it's the kind of pie-in-the-sky thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.

Absolutely.  They should also be making projections on the assumption we get relegated.  

[Scotty]

Crossposting this here from the Investment thread as this may be most appropriate place. 

Also adding the shareholder letter as an attachment that Charles was attempting in post 1.  

 

---

 

Still no accountability from our board though ... and more worryingly, still an undercurrent of thought that Makwana was a viable investor! 

As I make a personal comment on each of those quotes I highlighted below from the email from Panos this morning I am getting angrier and angrier at how much he is seeking to whitewash the board's role in this and their lack of governance. Whoever wrote this email for him is trying to spin a situation that has already spun out. Utter honesty and admission of failure would have been more appropriate in this instance. 

 

Quote

"By August of this year, it became clear to the Board that the Club’s financial position, which had been precarious for some years in all honesty, had become perilous"

Really? You had no idea before? Thats an admission that you employed ZERO governance on the former CEO. 

 

Quote

Strenuous attempts had been made by the Board to attract an inward investor and we did seriously consider an approach from 77 Ventures (Ketan Makwana), on which there has been much public comment. However, we suspended these discussions when it became clear that the gap between buyer expectations and seller ability to deliver was unlikely ever to be bridged.

Think you have this reversed. What about seller expectations? and buyer ability? 

If you seriously considered this then you are utterly incompetent. 100s of unqualified fans who spent 5 minutes or less googling raised enough red flags in just a few hours that would have kept Mao Tse-Tung happy for decades. Thats more googling than the prospective 'owner ' did by his own accounting. You then spent weeks wooing this serial fantasist and even now the courier articles from back then are cringeworthy at how gullible everyone seemed to be (except the fans, Alan Savage and Duncan Shearer).  

 

Quote

This includes monies due for a contract with the kit supplier, where the club is committed to a spend of £125,000 per season for the next 3 seasons

Did we investigate who gets commission on this deal? At full retail that's 2500 shirts per year for 3 years. Given that we won't pay full retail for these and there is an insane markup of football shirts, that could be as many as 5000 shirts per year or a combo of various merchandise. Seems insanely high and not a deal worked out based on the size of the club fanbase, nor the level of our merchandise sales and therefore quite possibly not to the benefit of the club. Something doesn't smell right in this deal.    

 

Quote

the Board felt it necessary and procedurally correct to open discussions with the SPFL and we did so on Friday 20th September. Unsurprisingly, they had already had some awareness of our difficulties.

No shit Sherlock!

 

Quote

As a club Board, it is incumbent on us to formally report this to you, the shareholders, as we have done above, seek your views and any suggestions to save the club, that may not have come to the fore over the last few months, and then act appropriately, in accordance with our statutory duties as directors.

A little bit f***ing late for all of that now. When asked 5 years ago, many of us presented ideas that were summarily ignored, or perhaps left in unread emails. Hundreds of supporters have reported they have sent emails to the club without response and NOW you ask us for ideas. Where were your statutory duties back in 2019 or 2021 or even 2023? 

 

Quote

What no Balance Sheet or financial analysis recognises, of course, is that the club’s most valuable asset is its fan base. They provide the life blood for the club and we recognised that we should also make further steps through the Supporters Trust and publicly, to appeal to them to help the club to survive.

What condescending sh1te. For the last 5 years the fans have been ignored and looked down upon by the very same people (Alan Savage aside) who are now coming at us with the begging bowl and hailing supporters as lifeblood. Which one is it? You can't have it both ways. The Supporters Trust have been derided publicly by the [former] CEO - who was allowed to do so by the board - and as the main, formally recognised, fan body, ignored by you all until we are now in the last chance saloon. This board really do beggar belief. Hypocrites. 

 

Quote

We need to accept the reality of the situation that with debt by May 2025 likely to be £1.4 – £1.6 million (to cover cash loss, potential claims and back log creditors) and a balance sheet standing at negative £3.8 million by the financial year end in May 2025, finding a credible buyer is highly aspirational.

So -£5 million quid in 5 years and not one of you had a f****** clue that we were in deep financial doo-doo and/or had the balls to call either of our former CEOs who held those purse strings to account? Again, where were your statutory duties when this was occuring?

 

Quote

We propose to have an open meeting of shareholders, fans and stakeholders in the Highlander Suite at the Club, at Stadium Road, to be held at 7.30pm on Monday, 7th October. We encourage as many as can attend to please come along and share your thoughts with us. 

Online broadcast and questions for the diaspora outside of Inverness? Lots of committed fans in Scotland, elsewhere in the UK, and internationally. Probably not then. 

 

Quote

As interim Chairman, please be assured that I will respond frankly to your questions, as will Alan Savage, whose Financial Appraisal has done so much to give clarity to the huge challenges facing us as a Board.

That will be a f****** first. But given that it's unlikely you will make this an online meeting here's a few to be going on with ... I will likely think of many more, as will others on here. 

1. You say Alan Savage gave you clarity... WHY did you not have this before? 
    
2. Given your professional qualifications as a respected orthopaedic surgeon would you care to comment on the treatment dished out to our injured players, specifically the accusation made against you by Aaron Doran, and also in general to the club's treatment of other players who were - based on opinions expressed - 'cast aside' by the club over the last 5 years, in some cases while recovering from injuries.
   
   This may seem like old news but given the success of a crowdfunding request by one of those players cast aside (Sutherland), on behalf of another (Doran), and the sheer speed by which it reached and surpassed its crowdfunding goal, it may be pertinent to clear the air 'frankly' as you seek to use the same platform to crowdfund for the club. 
    
3. Please explain the internal governance methodology employed over the last 5 years that has seen the previous model of fiscal responsibility at the club (which also struggled to make ends meet each year) torn down and replaced with schemes that seem to have generated a shortfall of £5m in 5 years. Was the board aware of this and if they were, why was it allowed to get to this stage. If not aware, why not? 
    
4. Why did we rely on the assumption that one after another pie-in-the-sky schemes would come to fruition rather than work with what we had, taking small positive steps, and view these schemes as a windfall IF they happened. 
    
5. Please explain why you have failed to communicate with fans over the last 5 years. It is not a secret that this has been happening, so saying you did not know is utter BS, but yet the action of not responding, or not taking any action to instruct those who should be responding has been allowed to continue and is therefore condoned. 
    
6. Do you feel that you and the board of directors have behaved in a manner that is always for the good and benefit of the club? If not, why have you remained in place? That would be a question to each and every board member individually not collectively. 

 

Final Thoughts

IF the club fails Panos, you and every single one of your board will forever be seen as 'Neros'. Fiddling while ICT burns. 

So let's see who prefers to be a Hero rather than a Zero. 

 

Shareholder Letter 1 October.pdf

[+Hiro]

I struggle to comprehend how we're even spending that amount of money in the first place.  How are we spending £1.4m more than we're bringing in, its incomprehensible for a business of our size. What is it going on? 

[CaleyCiuin]

The 200k that it is said in the letter is needed in 14 days time or administration is inevitable, what will that be spent on? Wages, bills, what other costs? I have bought a season ticket, an away shirt and bought stuff at the kiosk. They now want me to pay the wages through crowd funding !!!!!!!!!! This is an absolute joke of a mess. Directors step up or GTF!!!!

[Scotty]

I just got the bill for the player sponsorship also ... it is £900 and on the one hand it is 0.45% of the total required, but on the other hand it is also potentially in the wind if we go into administration. 

[Satan]

We're getting the bottom line numbers on the losses, previous years and this years projections...need a breakdown of exactly what we are incurring these losses on.

[Duke of Inverness]

Panos is a knee surgeon who told Aaron Doran to run off an ACL injury. 

Panos now wants us to pay more of our money into what is pretty much a club taking its last few breaths. 

Any wonder we are past the point of no return with 'leaders' like that in charge. 

RIP ICT

[Pele_Is_God]

We will raise the £200k but it's just a sticking plaster I fear...

[+snorbens_caleyman]

16 minutes ago, Pele_Is_God said:

We will raise the £200k

I wouldn't be at all sure of that. 

But note that administation is not just a "reset".  There is no guarantee that the club could continue as a going concern, even if it dropped down to League 2 or to the Highland League.  Someone would then have, for example, the expense of maintaining the stadium, with only peanuts for income.

[+CaleyHedgehog]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

I just got the bill for the player sponsorship also ... it is £900 and on the one hand it is 0.45% of the total required, but on the other hand it is also potentially in the wind if we go into administration. 

Are you committed to paying it, Scotty. Not sure if you have any options, but if so, I for one trust you to make the best decision you can with the information that you have. 

[big cherly]

Not convinced there are enough fans out there willing to throw good money after bad. As mentioned eloquently by other posters, the principal culprits are well known. These individuals got us here through their incompetence and are ducking their responsibility by looking for the fans to bail out the club. Unfortunately we are past the point of no return IMHO with the current debt, operating structure and set-up. 
For me a 200k month ‘plug’ is simply delaying the inevitable. If AS cannot find any credible investors with his Orion national and international network, well the game (excuse the pun) is truly up. 
Better to face and take the pain now and plan for post Admin under a completely new operating model suited to our actual fan base limit. 
Let’s also face facts we are at best a Championship operation. We just start again at the level arrived at after administration. 

 

Edited October 2 by big cherly

[Yngwie]

I know we shouldn’t be at all surprised by the severity of our financial plight and the urgency of the situation, but I kinda hoped that Savage was our saviour, especially after all the good things he did in his first couple of weeks. Not criticising him at all, he’s done what he said he would do, ie carry out a thorough business review and keep us afloat financially during that process.

[+old caley girl]

18 minutes ago, CaleyHedgehog said:

Are you committed to paying it, Scotty. Not sure if you have any options, but if so, I for one trust you to make the best decision you can with the information that you have. 

I wonder if you need to discuss with Scott Young Scotty? At very least I'd advise holding on till after Mondays meeting