Inverness Caley Thistle “breakthrough” talks with major shareholders has administration financier Alan Savage seeking to form a local consortium of business people to buy the Scottish League One club
Alan Savage is ready to capitalise on “breakthrough” talks on Caley Thistle’s future by forming a local consortium to buy the club.
The club consultant and financier through administration declared the “fog has lifted” after success at an unprecedented gathering of 10 major shareholders today.
It came after a week in which Savage and joint administrators BDO said the failure to find a buyer by the March 6 deadline had left the stricken Inverness club at “significant risk” of liquidation.
Those present at the meeting included past chairman Savage, Ross Morrison, Graham Rae, David Sutherland, as well key powerbrokers David Cameron and Allan Munro.
The most notable absentee was past chairman Doug McGilvray who gave his apologies.
Now, with agreement from the leading club investors, the meeting has potentially blown away past barriers to the club’s sale.
Those included a tangle of land ownership issues around the stadium, over £3 million in directors’ loan debt and disparate shareholdings preventing potential new owners from gaining outright control.
Savage, who is already committed to funding the club through administration to the tune of £1 million, is now ready to relaunch his bid to form a consortium to keep the club in local hands.
Savage said: “Today’s meeting was constructive and will improve the chances of a sale.
“I’m so hopeful, now, that a local consortium, led by me, can also make an offer.
“Fellow Inverness businessmen, please contact me if you can help at my email alan.savage@ ictfc.co.uk.”
Savage is willing to pick up 25 per cent of the £1.2 million needed to finance Caley Thistle to summer 2026 and stressed: “I’m looking for three or four able and willing to pick up a share of the rest. It may be as little as contributions of £200,000.
“If we can get three or four businessmen together, we can lift this up and protect the club with local ownership.
“I’ve got meetings with Highland Council, HIE and other people lined up to see if I can move the process forward and I’m working like mad to make sure that nothing negative happens to the football club.”
Although Savage’s call to form a consortium is not new, it is his belief most wanted to see a path out of administration before offering to help.
With a game-changing agreement now looking set in place, he is far more optimistic of success and a purchase before the season ends in just over six weeks’ time.
He added: “I can understand the hesitancy there has been, but now they know how dire the situation is without a buyer.
“Anyone who is capable of coming on board, I will meet them immediately and show them all the budgets we have ready to put in place for next year.
“The goal and gameplan is to stay in League One this season, get promoted next season to the Championship and then try to stabilise in that league, while cutting costs to income.
“We want to create a business driven by pure football, front foot, attracting the fans back in.
“That’s the ambition.”
