"The ICT Thread - From the Premiership to the Seaside"

[ICTChris]

20 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

Yeap. I couldn’t believe the majority of people seemed to be for it.

At the start of the meeting it was mentioned how much of a disgrace the concert fiasco was and how loads of local businesses were left out of pocket and by then end they all seemed to think we now need to do the same with the football club.

I think the difference is that the main creditors to the football club are members of the current board.  

[RiG]

With the Monday to Friday football operations shifted to Kelty I suspect they will be looking to lease out areas of the stadium for extra cash during the week.

Edited May 29 by RiG

[HoBNob]

6 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

They aren't talking about training in a better facility 50 miles away, they are moving the entire footballing operations of the club to Kelty, 135 miles away.  The club will effectively show up in Inverness twice a month for matches.  The justification is very wooly in that the board have said they'll save £200,000 or maybe £300,000 on accomodation but we'll also have to pay Kelty £100,000.  The idea that there's absolutely no alternative to doing this, absolutely nothing else is possible just isn't credible.

The other issue is that Ross Morrison and Scott Gardiner have failed repeatedly in every sense during their time at the club.  We make massive financial losses, we have just been relegated to the lowest level we've been at for 25 years.  They've put forward various schemes to improve things, all have failed - the battery farm, the concert company.  

I think when people say that they'd like young lads to play, what they mean isn't that we just make the youth team the first team.  The model of having some experienced players, like those we have under contract for next season, and adding in players from the academy seems more of a sustainable model than what we are doing.

It should be noted that Queen of the South have an artificial surface and an adjacent indoor arena, I'm not sure of the facilities they use in Hamilton but they won't be significantly better. The reason they train over 60 miles away is because of the player recruitment issue. 

Your second paragraph seems to hit on the issue more tbh, you're run poorly and you've been bad at football. I'm just not sure chucking both "problems" in the same basket is the best way to move forward, as I said if you has new ownership who were running the club well and you were flying high in the premiership would you give the slightest care where the players are training? 

[welshbairn]

Does anyone know how the £3 million for the battery farm was supposed to be earned? Does Caley own the small patch of land, and that's what the energy company were prepared to pay for it if planning permission came through? It all sounded like planting a money tree to me.

[welshbairn]

It won't be the same without stories in the Tuesday Courier of Caley players getting arrested for fighting outside Johnny Foxes over the weekend.

[PB1994]

18 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Does anyone know how the £3 million for the battery farm was supposed to be earned? Does Caley own the small patch of land, and that's what the energy company were prepared to pay for it if planning permission came through? It all sounded like planting a money tree to me.

Caley own the land. It's about half of the old first hole at Fairways, maybe a little bit bigger. The plan was to sell this land to a guy who owed Morrison a favour, after planning permission had been granted, for £3.4 million.

The analogy of a gambling addict betting bigger and bigger each time to recoup their losses seemed pretty apt to sum Morrison and Gardiner up. 

Edited May 29 by PB1994

[Buzz Killington]

Just to add re: the administration chat last night, it was being discussed as an absolute last resort. 

As others have mentioned though its a terrible idea as its just doing what fans are accusing the concert company of doing. Screwing over local businesses.

Morrisson has put millions (I guess) into the club as loans and has a floating charge over the assets of the club for those loans.  Meaning there is nothing to stop a pissed off Morrisson just going straight to liquidation effectively killing the club.

 

[welshbairn]

They'll have to come up with a new name for the phoenix club. Maybe Inverness Thistle FC?

[PB1994]

39 minutes ago, HoBNob said:

 

So what is it you want to achieve with the boycott? Is it for the team to train in Inverness, but then Gardiner and the chairman remains? Or full on regime change, however if a new board comes in and communicates that training at another location could save so many hundreds of thousands a year and have you back challenging for the Championship would that be acceptable? 

For me it is a full regime change. Gardiner has run this club into the ground and I can't believe he wasn't sacked after the concert disaster. The only problem is who actually takes over? There are rumours of a few wealthy shareholders that would like to do it but will that actually happen? Fan owned? No idea if we have the fan base for that to be sustainable and I'd imagine that will take years of planning/building up funds to make it work.

I actually have a bit of sympathy for Morrison. He clearly cares about the club and has put in over £1 million of his own money to keep it going, he has just made some absolutely horrendous decisions with that money, well employing Gardiner and giving him the keys. He really doesn't help himself though as he seems like quite a hot headed chap and he always comes across terribly in interviews.

I think the part about playing the kids/local lads is being a bit exaggerated. We have 6 players under contract for next year. Devine, Udjur, Gilmour, Brooks Mckay and Savage so if they were wanting to stay at the club that is a pretty decent core of players and you could then have the young lads around that. We have 3 or 4 really promising youngsters coming through and being in League 1 there really isn't a better time to get them some first team experience. All these guys are already in Inverness. Brooks, Mckay and Devine all own their own houses and the young boys are also living locally. So training in Inverness with those guys and then maybe bringing up 3 or 4 more from England/Central Belt really doesn't seem to be that expensive.

I don't see the positive of us training in Kelty. Even if we were in the Championship if a player had offers from Dunfermline, Falkirk, Raith and us I think we would still be last in the queue to sign the player. Even if we were offering more money, if location was such a big deal for that player.

[bpdon]

15 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

Caley own the land. It's about half of the old first hole at Fairways, maybe a little bit bigger. The plan was to sell this land to a guy who owed Morrison a favour, after planning permission had been granted, for £3.4 million.

The analogy of a gambling addict betting bigger and bigger each time to recoup their losses seemed pretty apt to some Morrison and Gardiner up. 

Despite Caley making out they do own the land in their planning application, it was shown that this was a bit of a ruse. They do not own the land. The ICT Battery Farm Ltd company have a long term lease on the patch of land for the project. The land is still owned by one of David Cameron's companies.

Since the council usurped the planning application, the ICT Battery Farm Ltd company has had some share ownership shenanigans. Previously the company was 100% owned by the football club. Where as now the club directors (Morrison, Munro, Cameron) each have >= 25% share. That means the football club now owns at MOST 25% of the ICT Battery Farm Ltd company.

The plan was to sell the company with the lease (and the planning permission).

 

Edited May 29 by bpdon

[PB1994]

3 minutes ago, bpdon said:

Despite Caley making out they do own the land in their planning application, it was shown that this was a bit of a ruse. They do not own the land. The ICT Battery Farm Ltd company have a long term lease on the patch of land for the project. The land is still owned by one of David Cameron's companies.

Since the council usurped the planning application, the ICT Battery Farm Ltd company has had some share ownership shenanigans. Previously the company was 100% owned by the football club. Where as now the club directors (Morrison, Munro, Cameron) each have >= 25% share. That means the football club now owns at MOST 25% of the ICT Battery Farm Ltd company.

 

Ah yeah you are right.

Morrison has said in the Courier yesterday that was done as the club had no money but the club would still get all of the profits from the sale if/when it goes through. Believe that if you want. I certainly don't.

[welshbairn]

Yup, Morrison, Munro and Cameron own not less than 25% and no more than 50% each, so it's possible they own 100% between them, no mention in the public record of the club owning anything. Might have it wrong, no knowledge of accounting.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC732789/filing-history

P.S. It looks like the company was originally set up with one share, owned by INVERNESS THISTLE AND CALEDONIAN F.C. LIMITED.

That one share seems to have transformed into 100 shares, distributed 3 ways.

Edited May 29 by welshbairn

[bpdon]

10 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

Ah yeah you are right.

Morrison has said in the Courier yesterday that was done as the club had no money but the club would still get all of the profits from the sale if/when it goes through. Believe that if you want. I certainly don't.

This is the problem Morrison and Gardiner now have, which is made worse by how opaque the financial situation is. Nobody believes a word they say or trusts the financial picture anyone from the club paints.

It is likely that Morrison, Munro and Cameron bought the battery company shares from the club to inject some capital. At what cut price value? How do fans know that the £3M that was on the line for the planning permission is even fair value? I saw some rumours that suggested Morrison and Gardiner and others were allegedly part of some consortium planning to buy the project. If there is any substance to that rumours, it's a murky conflict of interest.

Edited May 29 by bpdon

[CityDave94]

Can see ICT Battery Farm Ltd not lasting long, just like everything else they get involved in. Green space or housing development near by its not a good place to set up.

[welshbairn]

I originally didn't understand the objection to the battery farm, back of a business park in the corner of an abandoned golf course, not exactly rambling country. Maybe the councillors knew more than they were letting on.

[Honest Saints Fan]

12 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I originally didn't understand the objection to the battery farm, back of a business park in the corner of an abandoned golf course, not exactly rambling country. Maybe the councillors knew more than they were letting on.

Sledging.

[welshbairn]

3 minutes ago, Honest Saints Fan said:

Sledging.

The stadium's on 9 acres of land, surely plenty room for a battery farm somewhere there, it's all very odd.

[Honest Saints Fan]

1 minute ago, welshbairn said:

The stadium's on 9 acres of land, surely plenty room for a battery farm somewhere there, it's all very odd.

My office looks onto the 1st fairway, I don't want to see no battery farm when I'm eating lunch.

[Scary Bear]

1 hour ago, Savage Henry said:

It’s a false dichotomy, certainly.  There’s a hangover at County - and you’re seeing it with Cowie - whereby the “local” players get an easier time of things.  The call used to be “get the local lads on”, essentially because they care more, or that was the thinking I suppose.

 

At the same time, it seems self evident that a football club is part of the local community and having the players living and working on a daily basis in  that community is common sense.   ICT are, currently, as a club, absolutely terrible at community engagement, whereas the team across the Kessock bridge are somewhat better.   
 

A final point, being in the third division isn’t that bad.   It’s quite a laugh, and in some respects a lot more fun than VAR and the Daily Record and Thursday kick offs and the arse cheeks and all that comes with top flight football.

Have to disagree with that last bit. League One is okay if you manage to get promoted in one season. If, like Falkirk and Raith Rovers, you are stuck there for years it quickly saps your soul.

[Juanjo Nostalgia]

Not a season ticket holder, so can’t speak for those who are boycotting, but my understanding would be that the aim is to force Morrison and Gardiner to back down - not to put the club into administration. 

Morrison saying “if you withhold season tickets we’ll go into administration” is holding the club to ransom - and fails to acknowledge the logical alternative that he could always just change his mind!