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

[STFU]

Where is the idea coming from that the consortium will be made up from those at the meeting last week?

In theory it might sound good but in reality these guys haven't been able to get along and work together the last 30 years so can't see them managing that now.

If it gets us out of admin and allows a sale to a new person or group afterwards then maybe but they had the chance to do that last August and avoid the whole **** show but didn't do it.

[big cherly]

49 minutes ago, STFU said:

Where is the idea coming from that the consortium will be made up from those at the meeting last week?

Where does anyone say they will?? 

[Scotty]

1 hour ago, STFU said:

Where is the idea coming from that the consortium will be made up from those at the meeting last week?

Where is the idea that it is not? I guess we have to wait and see... unless you have the inside track on this somehow? 

 

1 hour ago, STFU said:

In theory it might sound good but in reality these guys haven't been able to get along and work together the last 30 years so can't see them managing that now.

I think we all acknowledge this has been the case. However, desperate times call for desperate measures and be honest with yourself... did you ever think 10 of them would be around the same table in the same room at any point? 

 

1 hour ago, STFU said:

If it gets us out of admin and allows a sale to a new person or group afterwards then maybe but they had the chance to do that last August and avoid the whole **** show but didn't do it.

Its brinksmanship, pure and simple. Some may be so deep in they can't afford to lose hope of getting some return, while others may be waiting for an opportunity to see who blinks first. The announcement last week kind of tells them all that this s*** is real and whether anyone blinks or not they better get their finger out and work together, if not for the good of the club, then to avert their own investments from swirling down the drain.

Many of us will lose £250 in any buyout, and lets be honest, if you did not regard that as a donation 30 years ago you were fooling yourself. Its irritating but unlikely to pull any of us down. However, for those with a large shareholding then the outlook may be different. Is a percentage of any sale of the club where you get something preferable to bankruptcy and little to no reimbursement? Can you do it even if you have to collaborate with someone you perhaps dont want to? 

Again, I have no idea what is true and what is not, who is in and who is out, who are best buds these days and who still hates each other's guts, I just know that somewhere in the near future we will all look around and decide who falls into which category ....

 

[STFU]

5 hours ago, big cherly said:

Where does anyone say they will?? 

 

On 3/21/2025 at 12:03 PM, Scotty said:

We are holding on by the skin of our teeth because Alan Savage has (rapidly emptying) deep pockets, as have other potential members of that consortium.  If we assume it would be made up of some combination of the 10 people who were around that table and the couple that were not, then all of these people have put money into the club at one point or another, but I don't think any of them are so wealthy that the taps would never run dry.

 

[STFU]

4 hours ago, Scotty said:

Where is the idea that it is not? I guess we have to wait and see... unless you have the inside track on this somehow? 

Alan Savage came straight out after the meeting and spoke to the press asking for anyone interested in joining his consortium to come forward.

That doesn't suggest anyone else around the table was enthusiastic about doing so.

I definitely don't have any inside track. I try and look at the information available and see how it fits together. That normally involves ignoring everything other than direct citations in the press etc. as it can often muddy the waters.

I get why everyone is praising Alan Savage as the saviour but there's still, in my mind, a big question as to whether his pushing for administration was the cause of talks breaking down last August or the result of it. It concerns me that may have been his first act of brinkmanship in all of this.

We were promised transparency but things are still very far from clear.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Presumably Alan Savage is not party to the organisations who have expressed an interest to the Administrators in buying INVERNESS THISTLE AND CALEDONIAN F.C. LIMITED.

Consequently if the hurdles to gaining control are resolved the Administrators can update potential bidders and set a new deadline for offers - presumably quite a quick one. 

Any consortium Alan is able to create would not necessarily emerge as preferred bidders. 

With regard to Scotty's analysis what we do not know are the unknown variables that have impacted on decision making. Beyond that his analysis seems very reasonable and balanced.

[Charles Bannerman]

21 hours ago, STFU said:

I get why everyone is praising Alan Savage as the saviour but there's still, in my mind, a big question as to whether his pushing for administration was the cause of talks breaking down last August or the result of it. It concerns me that may have been his first act of brinkmanship in all of this.

The first public mention of Administration came at the fans’ meeting in the Social Club last May, from Alan MacKenzie who is a financial lawyer and a former club Vice Chairman. More recently, he was behind last week’s meeting that seems (we hope!) to have concentrated several minds in the direction of a solution.

I think that the reality is that Administration should probably have come rather earlier than it did and the overwhelming evidence for that suggestion is the absolutely desperate state the club eventually got into - so desperate that a buyer has, predictably, been difficult to find. There were clear signs as long ago as 2018-19 in the form of the need to raise £1M in share capital, that the club’s finances were in a desperate state, and since then there has been an astonishing catalogue of financial profligacy and consequent deepening debt, including Morrison’s secured £1.6M, that finally rendered the club the complete basket case it currently is.

Much of the problem is that the club’s finances were allowed to sink into the mire for far too long - on the strength of the naive assumption that red herrings and white elephants such as concert companies, battery farms and park and rides would straightforwardly emerge as panaceas.

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

In the P and J today Bryan Jackson from the Administrators is reported as saying that the club could be debt free and ready for sale in weeks.

[CaleyD]

1 hour ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

In the P and J today Bryan Jackson from the Administrators is reported as saying that the club could be debt free and ready for sale in weeks.

That will be taken from the newest Wyness Shuffle podcast where they spoke to Bryan Jackson.  Well worth a listen.

[+snorbens_caleyman]

1 hour ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

In the P and J today Bryan Jackson from the Administrators is reported as saying that the club could be debt free and ready for sale in weeks.

He is NOT from BDO.  He is ex-BDO - left them in 2015 - although he "lined up" BDO for this job when others apparently thought it was too risky.

The report appears to be based on a Wyness Shuffle podcast.  Can you guys sue the P&J for breach of copyright or IP - or is it public domain once it's out there?

[RiG]

The chat with Bryan Jackson is available here (other podcast players are available):

 

[CaleyD]

11 hours ago, Charles Bannerman said:

The first public mention of Administration came at the fans’ meeting in the Social Club last May, from Alan MacKenzie who is a financial lawyer and a former club Vice Chairman. More recently, he was behind last week’s meeting that seems (we hope!) to have concentrated several minds in the direction of a solution.

I think that the reality is that Administration should probably have come rather earlier than it did and the overwhelming evidence for that suggestion is the absolutely desperate state the club eventually got into - so desperate that a buyer has, predictably, been difficult to find. There were clear signs as long ago as 2018-19 in the form of the need to raise £1M in share capital, that the club’s finances were in a desperate state, and since then there has been an astonishing catalogue of financial profligacy and consequent deepening debt, including Morrison’s secured £1.6M, that finally rendered the club the complete basket case it currently is.

Much of the problem is that the club’s finances were allowed to sink into the mire for far too long - on the strength of the naive assumption that red herrings and white elephants such as concert companies, battery farms and park and rides would straightforwardly emerge as panaceas.

The first mention of admin came from Ross Morrison when he said that if we didn't move training and operations to Kelty then we faced administration.  It was that threat that spurred the fans meeting where Alan Mackenzie then outlined the risks if such a thing.

On the rest of your response to STFU, I don't think anyone is in any doubt as to the circumstances that resulted in the meeting last August. The point STFU is making, and I've also touched on it previously, is WHY did the agreements from that meeting not materialise?

I don't have any current inside knowledge, but I still hear things, as I'm sure others do.

Piecing together the whispers it would seem that a lack of transparency/information (intentional or otherwise) around certain things at the time of that initial meeting, which then came to the attention of some afterwards, meant that they felt there was risk that any new investor/owner may be motivated by the value of the land for non football development.

Being in administration and open to having to accept the highest bid meant that if the car parks lease was also held by the club, it increased that risk....which it would.

There was then very public criticism of some of those involved, and from there it went south and turned into a battle of the personalities.

There is zero doubt that the financial position that was left behind when Ross Morrison stepped down put us at risk, and I make no defence of that, but I do believe had it not become a (one sided) public spat, then issues could have been worked through and administration avoided.

Alan Savage is now meeting the cost of that, and hopefully the slated parties feel he's paid his dues and they will now sort the club out and put it on a new, firmer, financial footing.

[CaleyD]

46 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

He is NOT from BDO.  He is ex-BDO - left them in 2015 - although he "lined up" BDO for this job when others apparently thought it was too risky.

The report appears to be based on a Wyness Shuffle podcast.  Can you guys sue the P&J for breach of copyright or IP - or is it public domain once it's out there?

Calm down

The article credits the podcast and one of their journalists is a a member of the podcast panel.

[RiG]

59 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

He is NOT from BDO.  He is ex-BDO - left them in 2015 - although he "lined up" BDO for this job when others apparently thought it was too risky.

The report appears to be based on a Wyness Shuffle podcast.  Can you guys sue the P&J for breach of copyright or IP - or is it public domain once it's out there?

As @CaleyD notes Paul Chalk has appeared on the podcast previously (at least 3 or 4 times now I think) and when he does write pieces that lift material from the podcast he does credit it which is appreciated. It isn't always the case however that a paper acknowledges the source. When we did the interview with John Robertson some 2 or 3 years ago now during which he opened up about struggles during COVID it got a fair bit of traction from the likes of the Scotsman / Edinburgh Evening News and Edinburgh Live (ugh) none of whom acknowledged the podcast as they scraped together an article as if it was their own. That was disappointing.

[Charles Bannerman]

2 hours ago, CaleyD said:

The first mention of admin came from Ross Morrison when he said that if we didn't move training and operations to Kelty then we faced administration.  It was that threat that spurred the fans meeting where Alan Mackenzie then outlined the risks if such a thing.

On the rest of your response to STFU, I don't think anyone is in any doubt as to the circumstances that resulted in the meeting last August. The point STFU is making, and I've also touched on it previously, is WHY did the agreements from that meeting not materialise?

I don't have any current inside knowledge, but I still hear things, as I'm sure others do.

Piecing together the whispers it would seem that a lack of transparency/information (intentional or otherwise) around certain things at the time of that initial meeting, which then came to the attention of some afterwards, meant that they felt there was risk that any new investor/owner may be motivated by the value of the land for non football development.

Being in administration and open to having to accept the highest bid meant that if the car parks lease was also held by the club, it increased that risk....which it would.

There was then very public criticism of some of those involved, and from there it went south and turned into a battle of the personalities.

There is zero doubt that the financial position that was left behind when Ross Morrison stepped down put us at risk, and I make no defence of that, but I do believe had it not become a (one sided) public spat, then issues could have been worked through and administration avoided.

Alan Savage is now meeting the cost of that, and hopefully the slated parties feel he's paid his dues and they will now sort the club out and put it on a new, firmer, financial footing.

I am referring to the first public reference to administration as the best available option… not to Ross Morrison using it as some kind of vague threat to coerce people into accepting a harebrained wheeze dreamt up by some or all of himself, Gardiner and Ferguson.

[STFU]

The statement reads:

“The joint-administrators of Inverness Caledonian Thistle can confirm that a positive meeting with loan creditors, major shareholders and a former director of the club has taken place, resulting in heads of terms being agreed to facilitate the writing off of loans and the return of shares to the club.

 

“This is conditional upon achieving a successful exit from administration and the club continuing to operate.

 

“The BDO administrators have spent time re-engaging with a number of interested parties and are pleased to advise that discussions are ongoing with four to five parties regarding an offer for the club. This process will continue throughout April.

 

“The administrators are delighted with these developments and are appreciative of the position taken by the loan creditors and major shareholders.”

[ictchris]

Hopefully we are bought by some insane oligarch from a tinpot dictatorship who has access to infinite money because he won the Gibrovian potash wars in the 1990s.

[STFU]

2 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Hopefully we are bought by some insane oligarch from a tinpot dictatorship who has access to infinite money because he won the Gibrovian potash wars in the 1990s.

Trump is more into golf than football sadly.

[Kind of Blue]

I long for the moment that I can just worry about the team’s performance on the pitch rather than all the off the field soap opera.  Let’s hope that the latest Administrator’s statement marks the real beginning of the path out of Admin and into a sustainable future.

[tm4tj]

Wow! An eerie silence since the promising news on a way forward out of this mess. It's been 17 hours since the last post on the most critical outcome for the club. It's a bit like watching a western film. The cowboys with their wagons in a circle, peppered with arrows and one or two burnt out, the Indians silent before launching another attack, vultures circling overhead looking to pick up the pieces and the cavalry nowhere to be seen...

Spooky guys

[STFU]

Sitting quietly hoping it's not another false dawn.

[DundeeICT]

https://ictfc.com/press-statement-by-mr-alan-savage-28th-march-2025/

[RiG]

My word!

 

[hislopsoffsideagain]

One thing is for certain: there is no stopping him; Alan Savage will soon own ICT.

 

And I, for one, welcome our new Orion overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted football blogger, I can be helpful in rounding up other fans to toil in their underground recruitment caves.

[tm4tj]

The cavalry have arrived, well light infantry at least.

A local club with local people at the beating heart of the club with the clubs best interests at heart.