Inverness Caley Thistle club consultant Alan Savage warns administration-hit Scottish League One club could face liquidation at the end of the season if major shareholders cannot unite
Caley Thistle consultant Alan Savage admits the club faces a desperate race against time to avoid liquidation this summer.
That stark warning came after this morning’s announcement by joint administrators BDO that the 2015 Scottish Cup winners had failed to find a buyer by the March 6 deadline.
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Savage, who held an impromptu press call in the ICT boardroom at 3pm, made it clear that the club could cease to exist unless key players in the administration saga agree to untangle issues currently blocking sale of the club.
He is trying to arrange an emergency meeting of all major shareholders by Thursday next week to thrash out a solution.
Complex issues are said to have frightened off interested purchasers - including directors’ loan debt topping £3 million, difficulty in a new owner gaining boardroom control through majority shareholding, and a tangle of confusion over land ownership around the Caledonian Stadium.
Savage, by the end of May, will have pumped in £1 million of his own cash into funding administration and keeping the club afloat since administration struck in October.
But he stressed the bleak picture he was painting was no bluff, saying “I need help.
“I’m running out of money (to support the club).”
Interested parties including one major US investor had been put off by those three major sticking points.
If no-one else could be found to take control of the club, Savage made it clear the club faced liquidation come late May when he would be forced to walk away.
Admitting he was “worried”, Savage said: “Needless to say, I'm disappointed no buyer came forward.
"To satisfy the SFA and SPFL rules, to operate this season will cost £1 million all-in.
"The administrators reached out to me, and I have offered to fund 25 per cent of the purchase price and the funding requirement, but I do need help on the 75 per cent balance.
“It needs to be done quickly.
"Allan Mackenzie (of the administrators) has offered to pull together the major shareholders this week, as he did last August, to get something going and to find a solution to the 75 per cent shortfall we would have.
"Things need to be done quickly to retain the football licences with the SFA and SPFL, and to retain the squad for next season, to keep the football and commercial momentum going, and to avoid liquidation.”
Confirming that he wanted the meeting - which would be unprecedented in Caley Thistle’s history - “before Thursday”, Savage stressed: “We want to have everyone concerned involved - all the big stakeholders and shareholders to see if we can thrash something out.
"It would be criminal for the city of Inverness not to have a football club.
“It is unthinkable.
"I am worried (the club might cease to exist) and I have tried to help.
"I have tried to give the club breathing space all the way through to try and find a buyer.
"For whatever reasons, amid a lot of noise, people didn't come forward.
"I am funding the club until the end of the season. Nothing will happen in that period.
"To keep the squad together is one of the most important things.
"We need to find out the way forward and the solution.”
Savage has been critical in the past of two key players, ex-chairman Ross Morrison and past director David Cameron.
He has said they previously gave verbal assurances they would help on the three major sticking points.
Savage added: “Most people realise the position the club is in and I would have thought people would have been very, very helpful, as opposed to taking some of the stances they have taken.
"I can't see the reason for it, but maybe I have a different mindset to those people.
"The likelihood is we will need £1.8million to get through to the end of next season.
"That is on the basis we stay in League One as opposed to down to League Two. We want to keep full-time football.
"I will have put in £1m so I have done my shift. I need help.
"The administrator has been speaking to a lot of people and set up a data room, and tried very hard to get a buyer.
“He has explained why (that has not happened).
“I’d be incredulous if a city the size of Inverness can’t support a football team. With the businesses of Inverness, the Freeport, people have made a fortune out of Inverness.
“I can’t see why it is a problem to raise (the investment).
“I’m not being unreasonable. The city should be able to support a football club and it is disappointing if it goes all the way to liquidation.”
