Former Inverness chief executive Scot Gardiner has broken his silence on the stricken club’s dire financial plight.
Directors have warned of administration unless a fund-raising effort – currently standing at £75,000 - reaches £200,000 by the end of next week.
Currently second bottom of League One, staff were called to an emergency meeting at lunchtime yesterday to discuss the club’s future.
And, in a statement provided to Mail Sport, Gardiner, who quit after a takeover bid by Seventy 7 Ventures was rejected in August, warns that administration would be a ‘hellish’ experience certain to bring devastation to the club and the local Highland community.
He alleges that former chairman Alan Savage offered to provide financial backing for six months before recommending the appointment of an administrator six weeks later, and that Savage made administration more likely by opposing a £2.5million takeover agreement with Seventy 7 Ventures.
Gardiner also confirmed that his lawyers have sent letters to Savage, the board of directors and others over ‘a continued malicious campaign of defamatory and untrue statements’.
Gardiner, above left, with manager Duncan Ferguson before the CEO left club
Gardiner on the pitch at Inverness, where proud club is on brink of administration
Former Inverness Caley Thistle chairman Alan Savage
Criticised for his role in the club’s rapid demise, Gardiner believes administration could still be averted if the board gave serious consideration to a fresh rescue plan from Seventy 7’s Ketan Makwana.
‘Having gone into two clubs as COO and CEO at Hearts and Dundee, immediately after administration had been exited, I have seen at first hand the devastation it brings,’ said Gardiner.
‘Not only to the football club, where fantastic people who have sometimes worked for the clubs for a decade or more are turfed out of work immediately.
But also to the always undeserving fans who will only find out how catastrophic the transfer embargo and player releases will be and the points deductions.
‘I have also seen small and medium-sized local businesses who lost out on thousands of pounds of work they did in good faith, sometimes bringing them to near ruin and the club forever losing the goodwill of their cities.
‘Not to mention fans asked to put in money, which sometimes comes from their savings, into the club to help keep it alive when it has been doomed to admin by the actions of those who knew the ultimate fate in advance.
‘I have put thousands of pounds of my own savings into ICTFC to help pay wages at the club, but I did so when I knew the chairman Ross Morrison was making sure every action was being taken to safeguard the club for a bright future and certainly from admin. That was my choice.
‘I hope that every single action is taken to avoid what seems to have been destined to happen since mid-August when I left, with a buyer in place.
Ketan Makwana of Seventy 7 Ventures, who made takeover bid for club
The financial crisis at Caley Thistle has started to tell on boss Duncan Ferguson and players
Gardiner says administration would be devastating for Highland club and community
‘I really hope that every single avenue has been exhausted in the last few weeks before the apparently sudden decision to bring BDO in, as the fans, staff, players, coaches, the city, local businesses and myself, will find out what a hellish experience awaits if this cannot be avoided even at this late stage.’
Gardiner resigned as chief executive days after a ferocious backlash from supporters forced directors to do a U-turn on plans to move the training ground to Kelty in Fife, 135 miles from Inverness.
Asked to stay on to find a buyer for the club, he engaged with eight interested parties, seven from outside the UK.
Only one formal offer was made, by London-based Seventy 7 Ventures led by executive chairman Makwana, and unanimously accepted by the five-man board prior to a U-turn on August 12.
Gardiner claimed: ‘There was a formal offer to the ICT board from Alan Savage to fund the club for a minimum of three months and a maximum of six months and to become a director of the club with immediate effect - provided they immediately suspended all discussions and negotiations with Seventy 7 Ventures and perform another U-turn, this time on the £2.5m offer the board had unanimously accepted.
‘Mr Savage became a director of the club the same day, fulfilling his commitment to the board as illustrated in his 12-point Heads of Terms, then resigned from the board later that day.
‘The Chinese and Portuguese interest quoted by him on his first day has vanished and no others have transpired.
‘His offer to the board and the fans that he would look after the club financially, for up to six months while he found a new buyer, has disappeared after circa six weeks.
‘On September 20, Mr Savage actually presented a paper to the board which recommended that they appoint an administrator and, according to interim ICT chairman Mr Thomas, ‘to do so with immediate effect’.
Mail Sport attempted to contact Inverness Caley Thistle and Mr Savage on Friday for comment.