Inverness Caley Thistle commercial business manager Andrew Benjamin asks local businesses and community to rally behind football club’s cause in Highland capital
Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s business commercial manager Andrew Benjamin has asked the Highlands to rally behind the cause of the football club when they exit administration.
The end of a turbulent period seems to be in sight for the Caley Jags, who appointed BDO as joint-administrators at the end of October, after Alan Savage was announced as the preferred bidder to take the club forward.
In a press conference yesterday afternoon, Savage alluded to work that Benjamin had been doing, already in talks over a signage deal worth tens of thousands of pounds to the club once they officially exit administration.
That willingness to work with the club is a positive sign for their future, and Benjamin would love to see more businesses and individuals come on board to give a major boost to Caley Thistle’s early journey post-administration.
“I hope people see this as the start of something new and exciting,” he said.
“Scott (Kellacher) and the boys have done incredibly well, and we’ll see more of that next season. It’s incredibly important that people see that and want to support the club.
“We’ll do everything we can to make the club run like a proper business, but we can’t do that alone – we need people to come on the journey with us, and there are opportunities for everyone to get involved and play their part together.
“I can’t really give any information on specific deals at this moment in time, but it has been really pleasing to see how some organisations have already said they will be there to support us once we’re over the line.
“I think they see the big picture. It’s obviously not just one-off conversations, and I think they see the path that we want to take and what we’re trying to build, and they want to be a part of that.
“The more people that come with us, the more people will be celebrating promotions and cup wins with us down the line.
“I worked in the charity sector for 14 or 15 years, and I know how great the Highlands are at rallying behind causes. We are a cause now. We will be pushing with all our might to start pushing up the leagues, and it is a journey, so we need people to get behind us now.”
A big focus of Benjamin’s in his seven weeks since joining Caley Thistle has been re-engaging with the community in the Highland capital.
Various ticket initiatives for recent home games, including the return of a family ticket for this Saturday’s match against Kelty Hearts, have evidenced that, as has the popularity of pop-ups in the Eastgate centre this week.
Above all else right now, though, Benjamin is grateful to Alan Savage for maintaining the foundation of the club that allows them to forge those connections with the people of Inverness.
“We’ve been in the Eastgate this week, and so many people have come up to us and said it was great to see Caley Thistle out in the community,” he explained.
“They almost forgot that we’re here, so we want to make sure they don’t forget.
“Seats are there ready to be sat on to watch football, so get behind us. They will see us more in the community now, and I reckon we will see another 300 to 400 people wearing Caley Thistle shirts around the city because people have been buying them up.
“It’s a really exciting time, and we’re thankful to Alan for sticking with the club and sticking to what he said he wanted to do.
“I’m just so pleased that we’ve managed to get over the line. Myself and Charlie Christie have been trying to say ‘we’re back’, and sometimes people give us strange looks, but this shows the belief that we have and Alan has.
“Even with some of the setbacks, he has stuck to his word and done it. Thank you to the shareholders for agreeing and backing Alan too.”