Statement - Orion Group

[CaleyD]

The Orion Group provided the following statement to CaleyThistleOnline this afternoon.......

?In light of various reports in the press, on TV and Saturday?s programme against Kilmarnock Orion would like to confirm that Alan Savage?s resignation from ICTFC on the 9th of April was with immediate effect.

We would also like to point out that the signing of Marius Niculae was a unanimous decision of the ICTFC board on the recommendation of the then Manager Charlie Christie.

Further it should be noted that at no time has the Orion Group or Alan Savage made any payments to Marius Niculae in respect of a signing on fee, wages or anything else whatsoever. ?

[Guest TinCanFan]

Interesting......

So Orion weren't paying Niculae's wage at all.

Might be a silly question, but is there the off chance that this is a hoax?

[Scotty]

Given the source of the statement, I would say that the information we have received is very accurate.

[maimie]

standing clear of the fan anyone??? :001:  and i don't mean mr savage...

[Guest TinCanFan]

A lot of it seems to go against what Savage was saying, this is all very confusing.

[maimie]

and given that i didn't get a programme on saturday what did it say???

[TomCaleyJag]

This is ridiculous. So Orion weren't paying Marius' wages?? Despite a whole year of Alan Savage reapeatedly saying they were??

[maimie]

This is ridiculous. So Orion weren't paying Marius' wages?? Despite a whole year of Alan Savage reapeatedly saying they were??

did he actually say that or could it be he said something else and we just took it to be that... 

[CaleyD]

TCF a TCJ....it's all about "Spin" and if you were to go back and read again what was said (in light of the information you now have) then you will see what a few people on here have been saying for a long time "It wasn't what it seemed".

[RednBlackComeback]

Orion may not have been paying his wages directly but the club statement at the time seems to suggest that they were assisting by way of sponsorship?

statement

[Tug]

hmmmm the plot thickens ?

so what about next year?

[EWS]

Orion may not have been paying his wages directly but the club statement at the time seems to suggest that they were assisting by way of sponsorship?

statement

Interesting then that Orion have claimed that;

"payments to Marius Niculae in respect of a signing on fee, wages or anything else whatsoever"

So surely sponsorship comes under the realm of 'anything else whatsoever'

[Jay_7]

:008: I am seriously getting sick of all the crap that is coming from the club and now we get this from Orion!  We really are a joke!  :008:

[RednBlackComeback]

The way I see it is that no monies were paid to Niculae by Orion......that appears to be fact now.

But that's not to say that no monies were paid to ICT !

[Scotty]

The suggestion (rumour) that has been circulating is that any 'sponsorship' may have taken the form of buying shares in ICT.

In this respect this would have been a cash windfall for the club because un-issued shares were (allegedly) purchased and ICT would have received the money. ICT could then have used said money to help pay Marius' wages. However, it is not technically a direct payment to the player which is what some of the spin (from all sides) led us to believe.

As a few people have mentioned in the last couple of months .... the AGM accounts will make for interesting reading this season.

[Jay_7]

When are the accounts made available for viewing and how are they accessible?  I recall someone posting a general report from the PWC website on P&B a while ago...

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

:clapping03: :clapping03: :clapping03:

I have to take my hat to that statement - very, very clever.  :008:

But Orion Group may have made payments to the club and the club paid Marius !!!

And it wont be on the clubs accounts either - it will state how much the club were paying to his wage - but that in itself will be interesting - that would explain why there was no money in the transfer window.

But that is NOT what we have been told or they would say what we think we have been told !!

All I can say is that it "feels" like the ordinary fan has once again "appeared" to have been "misled" - (not deceived) by the club management.

AND THE LATEST IN A SEASON LONG LIST.

[Scotty]

The accounts are sent out to shareholders in advance of the AGM. I will receive a copy then.

Not sure that I would be allowed to create a PDF of the whole thing and post it on the site as it is not public domain and probably subject to some law or regulation. However it will be entirely appropriate to discuss them on the board and make reference to any 'anomalies' we might note.

[Tug]

hmmmm this just stinks from start to finish

was just havin a wee poke on the bbc website that has the story claiming that bennet has confirmed he will pay niculaes wages for another year.

one thing though this aint gonna do us any favours

[Scotty]

it wont be on the clubs accounts either - it will state how much the club were paying to his wage - but that in itself will be interesting - that would explain why there was no money in the transfer window.

If Orion bought shares it will show in one part of the accounts as a purchase of shares which may or may not be commented on. The wages are in another part of the accounts but are only ever shown as staff costs and not broken down by individual players so it will indeed be as clear as mud.

The only clue we will really have will be by comparing the accounts from last season with this season and noting what is likely to be a significant jump in the total wage expenditure without a significant jump in the playing personnel. However, if this is lumped in with the costs for backroom/office staff it will become even less clear as there has been a significant increase in the quantity of non playing staff over the last year.

All I can say is that it "feels" like the ordinary fan has once again "appeared" to have been "misled" - (not deceived) by the club management.

Indeed. ICT have never been any good at spin, and when you feel the need to spin the truth from your own fans then its a sad day for everyone.

[Alex MacLeod]

What was the catalyst that brought about the issuing of that statement to this website and not via the official site?

Also note the Orion group logo features of the home page of Niculae's website. Have they paid via strange routes that cannot be directly linked to Niculae in person.

[Guest TinCanFan]

Notice as well, Savage did not write a collumn for the programme on Saturday. 

[CaleyD]

What was the catalyst that brought about the issuing of that statement to this website and not via the official site?

I can only assume that as Alan Savage is no longer a member of the ICT Board/Staff then he was unable to get a statement released through the club, or that given the nature of the statement they simply refused his approaches.

Notice as well, Savage did not write a collumn for the programme on Saturday. 

As his resignation was effective 9th April he would not have been Chairman at that time.

[caley100]

Aye aye, the conspiracy theorists are flocking now, seems to me that we are getting up tight about not much here.

CC looks to have wanted Marius, Orion and the board agree he could be signed, Orion buy shares to the value of his wages, If Marius is sold this will money back into the coffers.

The only gamble was... would Marius produce the goods?

[Scotty]

What was the catalyst that brought about the issuing of that statement to this website and not via the official site?

Not sure why they sent it to us or why the official site didnt publish anything - although CaleyD may be right.

However, the bottom line is that they did approach us and we have printed - in full and unedited - the complete statement. We are happy to print any rebuttal or statement from the club should they wish us to or to put a link to any such comment within this thread so that fans can make up their own minds about recent events !

Also note the Orion group logo features of the home page of Niculae's website. Have they paid via strange routes that cannot be directly linked to Niculae in person.

I doubt it.