The Highland businessman underwriting a £1.2million rescue plan for Inverness Caledonian Thistle has secured a meeting with directors of the stricken club.
The anonymous entrepreneur, originally from Inverness, is scheduled to meet the ICT board on Thursday in the hope of thrashing out a plan to help the League One outfit through to the end of this season.
An informal letter of intent went in on Tuesday requesting detailed information on the club’s complex finances. A condition of any deal was that the club would not enter administration, with guarantees also sought on the level of current debt.
Currently losing £4,000 a day, a public meeting last week warned supporters to brace themselves for an insolvency event, with administrators BDO already on standby.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle face the prospect of going into administration
A crowdfunder set up to raise emergency funds of £200,000 by this week has raised just £85,000, with the club claiming to need £1.6million to cover their costs until the end of the season.
Willing to invest £1.2m in return for a 50.45 per cent stake in the club, the unnamed businessman is working closely with Inverness businessman Don Lawson and is understood to hold no current links with the world of football.
Alan Savage, chairman of the Inverness-based Orion Group and ICT chairman from 2004-2006, is willing to meet the costs involved in administration and told fans at last week’s public meeting that it now looked to be the best option for the club.
Inverness directors expect to issue a statement on the club’s current status on Thursday, with a board meeting planned for Friday.
Despite recent interest from potential investors from China, Portugal and Ketan Makwana’s Seventy 7 Ventures, discussions with the mystery businessman now look to be the last realistic hope of avoiding administration, an immediate 15-point penalty this season, a further five points next season, a transfer embargo and a review of the club’s SFA licence.