Three Caley Thistle shareholders launch stinging broadside ahead of club's AGM
THREE Caley Thistle shareholders are alleging Tulloch Homes have threatened to withdraw their offer of gifting three stands back to the club.
A statement received by the Inverness Courier yesterday afternoon from Alan Savage and Doug McGilvray – both former chairman of the club – and McGilvray’s son Iain said Tulloch would renege on the proposal if a reduced lease area surrounding the stadium was not accepted.
It goes on to say that a rent holiday would also be revoked and back-payments would have to be made. A third-party loan of £100,000 is also alleged to be based on an acceptance of the reduced lease, which would include only the stadium blueprint and a “narrow access strip” with no car parking.
However, the Caley Thistle board distanced itself from the claims yesterday, believing them to be inaccurate.
The release comes just days before Caley Thistle’s AGM on Monday, with Savage and the McGilvrays saying they were approached by the club’s board in September regarding the financial position they were in after Kenny Cameron’s exit.
“The board’s overriding concern was the lease of the stadium and surrounding area. We believed this to be the 14 or so acres that the club once had the entire use of,” the statement read. “However what was on offer from the landlord was the footprint of the actual stadium and a narrow access strip with no car parking and certainly nowhere in the region of said 14 acres. The board went on to advise they were in negotiations with Tulloch, who are their landlord and now controlled the lease.
“The board further advised that Tulloch had told them that if the offer of the stadium and footpath wasn’t accepted then their previous offer of gifting the stands was going to be withdrawn along with the rent holiday being revoked and back rent would have to be paid.
“Furthermore the offer of a £100,000 loan from a third party was conditional on acceptance of signing the footpath deal- but we weren’t told why?
“Having to pay the back rent, along with the withdrawal of the loan, would make the club technically insolvent, unless the club could source funding from elsewhere.
“The discussions lead to seeking clarification of how Tulloch had become the landlord and of what the actual balance sheet looked like. These matters were not clarified; with regards to the matter of the lease we wrote an open letter to fellow shareholders including Tulloch about what had happened through time to get the club in such a precarious position.
“We note in the annual accounts that under item 9, page 15, these matters are dealt with by the auditors and so our open letter has only raised the profile of what’s gone on and why.
“The board solicited our advices and we have only asked for clarification and transparency which we expect to get at the AGM on Monday 18th December.”
The Caley Thistle board responded yesterday, believing the statement to be “materially inaccurate and misleading in several key areas.”
“We have reviewed the statement and believe it to be materially inaccurate and misleading in several key areas,” they said. “As previously advised, we will respond to shareholders at the AGM set for December 18.”
The proposal for the stands to be gifted back to the club was publicised a year ago as an early Christmas present for Inverness.
This latest statement follows a previous broadside by the three shareholders last month, where they accused Tulloch of jeopardising the future of Caley Thistle over the lease agreement and the potential for the club to be left homeless.
Tulloch countered this by stating they had ploughed millions into the club, including sparing it from insolvency in the early years of the millennium, as well as erecting three stands in 47 days to meet SPL requirements.
They also added that any future development of the land around the stadium would have to place the football club central to it and include parking at a convenient distance from the ground.
Tulloch did not respond to a request for comment before the Courier went to press yesterday.