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Questions from our Supporters in advance of the club meeting.

Writer's picture: ICT Supporters TrustICT Supporters Trust

Updated: Oct 6, 2024

Please find below the questions we received, collated and forwarded to the club on your behalf.

Many thanks for your detailed and varied questions. 


We have compiled the list below which we will pass on. Everyone's questions should be included, but if you notice that your question is missing please email info@ictsupporterstrust.org


This will be the final list (for this event, at least). It is unlikely that all these questions will be answered tomorrow, but we will obviously press for answers for all of them. If you wish to contact us please email info@ictsupporterstrust.org


Best wishes

The ICTST Board


1. What happened to the Portuguese Company who were allegedly interested in providing investment to the club?


2. What happened to the alleged American investors who were linked to investing in the club?


3. Can you confirm if the Sports Broker for the exceedingly unrealistic Puma deal was the Sports Broker owned by the wife of former CEO Scott Gardiner?


4. Why are funds for Scott Gardiner considered a club debt. Do the board think he has a good case?


5. Why did the club purchase £125k worth of strips for each of the next three years? Is it correct as rumoured that these were through a company run by Scott Gardiner's wife? Does this company get a percentage of the order? Why isn't this cancelled? This is also mentioned by Panos as a debt.


6. HMRC is a debtor. Has any attempt been made to set up a plan within them to address this?


7. In your recent statement, you say Alan Savage gave you clarity... WHY did you not have this before?

 

8. Given your promise to talk frankly, and 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 includes those who went a full summer after relegation without knowing their future as no-one from the club talked to them whatsoever. Not one of the board of directors, not the manager, not the CEO.


9. 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.

 

10. Please explain the internal governance methodology employed over the last 5 years that has seen the previous model of fiscal responsibility at the club, put in place after a similar financial crisis, and which also struggled to make ends meet each year despite being responsible, 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 the board was not aware, why not?

 

11. 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 anything that came to pass from these schemes as a windfall IF they happened.


12. Did any one individual (or more) benefit financially by way of commissions from the current shirt deal? Yes or No. Was the board aware of the 3-year commitment to spend £375,000 with this single vendor when finances were critically low, and what were the benefits of signing a multi-year deal compared to a rolling 1-year commitment that could be renewed by either party. If the board did sign off on this deal, why?

 

13. 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 at the highest level.  You are asking fans to dip into their pockets again to save the club, but they have had nothing but contempt from the board for the last 5 years.

 

14. 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.


15. This is to each board member individually. Will you present one individual fund-raising idea to the meeting that you will personally commit to initiating, promoting and seeing through should you remain as a board member.  


16. Does the club require agreement of the shareholders before the club can be sold?  If so, is this a straight majority of votes cast at a General Meeting or are there specific criteria that need to be met?


17. If in administration, is the decision to sell and who to sell too, solely a matter for the administrators?


18. Given that the Board are asking people to contribute to the crowdfunding appeal, could the members of the Board tell us how much they personally have contributed.  If they and the recently resigned Interim Chairman were seen to have personally made significant contributions, others may be more inclined to contribute and to contribute more.


19. To a greater or lesser extent, the remaining members of the Board, as custodians of the Club, must all share some of the responsibility for the current plight of the club.  This relates both to poor decision making and a lack of oversight of the activities and behaviour of the former CEO.  Do the current Board members think they are appropriate custodians to take the club forwards or would the good of the club be better served by looking for others to take over as soon as this can be effected?


20. Despite all the evidence from simple Google searches which would indicate that Ketan Makwana is not a credible person to purchase the club, the club is apparently re-opening negotiations with him.  Can the club please explain the reasons for this?  Can the club provide any publicly available information which might demonstrate his suitability as a football club owner.


21. Can the club explain what the implications for the administration process are of the Charges Mr Morrison and Mr Munro have lodged against the Club at Companies House.  If the debts payable to these 2 cannot be paid, will the assets detailed in the Charges become the legal property of Morrison and Munro or does the administration process invalidate the charges?


22. Mr Morrison and Mr Cameron are the sole directors of ICT Battery Storage Ltd.  They together with Mr Munro are the shareholders.  However, the Companies House records list the Club as a "person with significant control" with the right to remove or appoint directors, to have 75%+ voting right and to have 75%+ of shares.  So if we go into administration, would the administrators have the power to take back control and effectively include the Battery company as an asset of the club which might then be sold to a third party to help pay other debts?


23. Re the SFA license. What level do we currently hold? When does the current license expire and if it has expired what does the impact of administration have on our ability to continue to play in the league? If we go into administration are we also out of the league?


24. What happens from 17 October onwards if the £200k is raised. What is the plan for financial sustainability beyond that date and is another crowdfunder likely?


25. Given that it seems like some of the former Directors have not yet waived or equitised their loans as promised, are discussions still taking place that will ensure this happens, as surely their positive action is needed to clean up the balance sheet and debt, and to make the club an appealing prospect for potential investors?


26. Is the club serious about Makwana again?


27. The club's turnover seems to be consistently around £2.2n with costs close to £4m. That is unsustainable. How have we managed to consistently incur that level of costs and is there scope to reduce the cost base to a more sustainable level?


28. What governance did the Board have to scrutinise how the CEO was running the business? In particular, what sign off procedures were in place for controlling expenditure and scrutinising contracts (eg the kit deal)?


29. Can the Board members demonstrate that they satisfied all the statutory duties they had as Directors of the club?


30. Are there local businesses that remain out of pocket due to the poor past management of the club?


31. How will we learn the lessons of the past?


32. Assuming 200K is raised in crowd funding. What exactly will that large sum of money be spent on and what's to stop the club simply being put into administration the following month. Why would anyone donate without knowing their hard earned cash would definitely stop administration.


33. Having invested in the club in 1994 why as a shareholder do we not get a copy of the annual financial statements and other relevant information that shareholders should get?


34. Is there an immediate threat to the academy given the financial situation with the club. Or is enough external funding in place to secure its ongoing commitments. If administration happens, often the academy is seen as a key foundation of the club going forward, can the board give reassurances that the academy is a key pillar of the club used as a positive selling point and assurance that this academy security is part of any ongoing negations.


35. Were there any instances in last 4/5 years of any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest by club directors being directors of, or interested in other companies which did business with ICT and how was this dealt from a governance perspective?


36. The Battery Farm loss of potential windfall to ICT had been highlighted publicly at £3.4m. If planning finally did come through, but is now lost to the club as ICT shares in the Battery Farm have been sold to 2 directors and 1 former director for a perceived small amount,  how did that happen and how did the Board establish that the price for the sale of these shares was fair and at a true value for money and how did they cover off any conflict of interest?


37. Where are we with sight of the 2024 accounts and will auditors be prepared to audit the 2024 accounts as they stand?


38. The Concert Company was stated by our former CEO as being 100% independent from the Club. Was that truly the case and were any monies / club resources lent to the Concert Company by the club?


39. Did Scot Gardiner or his associates and wife have any interest in the Concert Company at all?


40. Why were club staff used for months to get the Concert Company up and running when they were employed by the club if it was an independent entity?


41. How much, if anything, did the club lose from the Concert Company going bust? Was it paid for use of club resources, staff and facilities?


42. It was mentioned that Scot Gardiner left over 7000 unopened emails. Is that number correct or is the figure lower or higher? What have the club discovered unactioned in these emails that have caused detriment to the club?


43. Do the directors consider Scot Gardiner did a good job or not? How was his performance managed, appraised against Key Performance Indicators and how did he formally report to the Board?


44. Do the Board consider that any activity by the Club, its Directors and the former CEO over the last 4/5 years could justify forensic scrutiny by an independent forensic auditor?


45. Is part time football being considered to save money? Whilst I think we would all agree that no one officials, fans, players or coaches would want this, would it not be an area to save money or are contacts a barrier to this?


46. Why has the club been marketed so poorly since the Scottish Cup win, and why has nothing been done to change this?


Key points:

a. Free Tickets to local schools appears to have stopped, cutting out a large portion of potential future fans who are otherwise not interested enough, or are unable, to attend the after school programmes.


b. No city centre presence. We've had a shop in the Victorian Market around the time of the cup final back in 2015, which then got reduced to a pop up table in the Eastgate, Tesco Inshes and the Tesco at the Golden Mile. The stadium shop alone is too far out of the way to catch any eye of the 2 Million odd tourists that visit Inverness from across the globe. We are even trailing behind Clachnacuddin in this regard, as they have posters for the Lily Lotto in places such as Charlies at the Bus Station, as well as shops throughout Merkinch (and possibly other local businesses elsewhere in town).


c. Again, as stated above, the club shop is far too out of the way to catch the eye of the tourist trade. So why is it open every single day of the week? Credit to the girls who run it, mind, but for the probably insignificant amount of people who use it, it's probably not worth being open for the amount of times it is per week.


d. Social Media and other communications. Simply put, the media side is awful. Back before a certain admin forgot to switch to their personal account, the Social Media team was actually useful. Any question asked was responded to in a timely manner. Now, its a response once in a blue moon, and more often than not, is utterly hopeless. The lack of remorse/response to club legends essentially being turfed out, such as Shane Sutherland, Aaron Doran, Ryan Esson and Mark Ridgers, and in Shane's case, being metaphorically spat on for calling out how he was treated on his way out. What message does this send to players that we are desperately needing to sign for us?


e. Advertisement. Need I say more. In previous years we've had adverts on MFR, which were mainly about Season Tickets being on sale, but now, nothing. As far as I'm aware, we've never had any form of advertising elsewhere and are just riding the wave off of SuperCaley and the 2015 cup win...


f. Match Programmes. Switched from physical booklets to less favourable online programmes (or, in our case, online, or printed slices of A4 that were stapled like an essay for school) just before Covid. Missing out on sales from big cup matches, such as the cup ties vs Kilmarnock and Hibernian, as well as the Playoff Run against Partick and St Johnstone. This is also a loss of advertising space for companies otherwise unable to finance/obtain a board at the stadium.


Solutions to the above:

a. Restart the tickets to schools scheme. Simple as. Obviously not for every single game, but the last home game before New Years, and/or the last home game of the season.


b. More of a solution for further down the line, but, get some floorspace in the city center, be it the Victorian Market or the High Street, it doesn't matter. The stadium alone isn't a sustainable option to get people to buy our merchandise.


c. Adjust shop opening hours. As said in the grievance, it's open too often to be worthwhile. Either only have it open on match days, or on every other day. Also, should Solution 2 be adopted, change the range so that the Stadium only has matchday merch i.e. hats, scarves, shirts, pins, while the city center location would have everything the shop currently stocks.


d. Simply, up the standards a touch. Make formal apologies to Shane, Aaron, Ryan and Mark, as well as the other players that have been tossed out the door without a shred of acknowledgement.


e. Advertise the hell out of the club. Hardly expecting a Pink Floyd-esque Balloon over the Castle, but get ads on MFR, ads in the P&J/Courier, ads in local/city sightseer buses, all just advertising that there is a home game this/next week.


f. Programmes are a staple of football culture. Simple as.


Further points:

a. Introducing a Gaelic Media Team, and Stadium Announcer. Might not seem like much, but it'd make us unique as no other professional or semi professional side in Scotland has an official Gaelic language media page or makes dual language announcements over the PA on matchdays. Should this be introduced it could captivate the audiences from the Western Isles into us being their main team for putting in the effort to connect and show our Highland roots. Not saying it has to become the only language spoken behind the scenes, but with the attempted revival of the language, it's good publicity.


b. Matchwornshirt.com. We've used this auction site previously in association with PoppyScotland to raise money for the charity with the match worn shirts from Remembrance Day weekend. We should utilise this further, and have an end of season fundraiser, where matchworn shirts etc get auctioned off. Obviously not quite on the same level as other clubs who have an auction after every match, but something at the end of the season should raise a decent chunk of cash.


47. Is Duncan Ferguson actually working for free or are payment of wages being deferred?


48. The last registered special resolution allowing the board to assign securities expired before the most recent charges were put in place. Does that mean they are invalid? If so what are the implications of that?


49. We were told by Scot Gardiner that when John Robertson returned to the club that a sizeable reduction had been made to team/player budgets. Was this a lie?


50. We were told 6 weeks ago that the club was safe from administration and many fans purchased season tickets etc based on that reassurance. What has changed?


51. What happened to the money raised by fans to put a roof on the west side terracing?


52. Has the money put in by Alan Savage been donated or is it loans?


53. Can we be provided a breakdown of costs to help explain why they are so high and where the money has gone and is needed?


54. What are the club doing to fill seats in the stadium? For example, handing out tickets to schools would bring in more fans, but also paying parents.


55. Was there a signing embargo on new & old players over the Summer? If so, who enforced this embargo and why?


56. What is the monthly cost of running ICT as a Full-Time League Two club? How does this differ from last season?


57. What would the implications of administration be for a) the women's team, b )the youth setup and c) the Community Trust?


58. Can the club please consider seriously going part time football operations. Ie manager, coaches, youth coach and players. This will dramatically reduce the OPEX and allow the club to look at a more stable operation.  It’s clear we have no where near the fan base numbers, unlike our close neighbours Ross County to maintain full time operating costs.


59. Regarding the fundraiser: there are 6000 empty seats. Why don't the club have a prize draw. 100 season tickets, minimum £5 donation.  Then 4 "money can't buy" items, one for each donation category  (£25 + under, £26 to £99, £100-500 and £501+) Everyone that has already donated will be in the draw. Prizes could be a boardroom dinner with the manager or favourite team member for 4 people; director for a day; free venue hire (okay so you can buy this); train & travel with the team.

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