EXCLUSIVE: Alan Savage ready to go it alone as leading Inverness Caley Thistle investor IF £3 million debt deal is sealed with watertight legal agreement
Alan Savage is prepared to go it alone as Caley Thistle’s leading investor if legal agreement can be sealed on removing more than £3 million in historic loan debts.
The man brought in as consultant two weeks ago to rescue the financially-stricken club made it clear he is still working around the clock to stabilise finances in the face of a tangled mess of monies owed.
But he stressed there was “no rush” to engage with potential international investors given his ability to drive the club forward with the local business community’s support.
Crucial to it all, is getting legally-binding confirmation of the verbal agreements reached a week past Monday (August 19) on loan debts.
At a meeting in the ICT boardroom, individuals - including past chairman Ross Morrison, who is out of pocket by over £2 million - offered to either write off money owed through loans or convert the debt into share equity.
However, Mr Savage is still working to get this set in stone.
Failure to do so, it is understood, would plunge the club back into serious financial danger.
If he can get those deals legally tied up, Mr Savage is prepared to personally drive the club forward by committing substantial investment of his own.
That would mean offers from potential UK and overseas buyers or investors could be entertained on merit by Caley Thistle, from a powerful bargaining position.
Mr Savage told the Courier: “We don’t need to rush. I can run the football club, with local business support, and with my own cash.”
The former head of the Inverness-based international recruitment group Orion was chairman of Caley Thistle during a successful period between 2006 and 2008.
The prospect of him returning longer-term, to a similar lead role, would be sure to excite ICT supporters.
Most welcomed his dramatic intervention on August 13, which brought about the immediate departure of former CEO Scot Gardiner.
But Mr Savage sought to temper the expectations of supporters by warning that, if given stewardship, he would take Caley Thistle forward “on a realistic basis”, as a Championship level operation with aspirations to return to the Premiership.
Mr Savage has already pumped more than £200,000 of his own cash into the club and is continuing to pay off creditors.
Work continues to restructure Caley Thistle’s finances, but huge strides have clearly been taken.
Mr Savage made it clear he was in no rush to meet with potential investors, including a Portuguese wealth management firm with interests in other European and South American clubs.
Prior to his own intervention, they offered to invest up to £2.5 million and have continued contact through GRM Marketing, the sports marketing agency enlisted by ICT to find new investment.
Mr Savage says that by removing the £3 million-plus debt he will be able to carry out careful due diligence on investment offers, rather than entertain them with the kind of desperation that brought Ketan Makwana of Seventy7 Ventures to the table.
Otherwise, Mr Savage is happy to continue to lead the club on own steam with the help of the local business community.
He said: “If we can secure legal agreement on the loan debt, we will be in a position of strength where the board does not have to bow to the first buyer who offers investment.
“We can then negotiate on the basis of what is best for the club’s future.
“The bottom line is I’m trying to put the club on an even keel.
“I’ve got it under control, but it is never the done deal until the actual legal agreements are signed (with those owed loan amounts).
“Until I do, I’m not going to speak to any prospective buyer.
“We don’t need to rush into that because I can run that football club, with local business support, and with my own cash.
“Let me steady the ship and tell all the stakeholders what’s going on.”
Mr Savage said there was an estimated £6-700,000 of club debt to tackle, but added: “I can cover that.”
Investment and commercial offers from the likes of Tomatin Distillery’s Stephen Bremner, club director David Cameron, past chairman David Sutherland and Doug and Iain McGilvray of Weldex, who are proposing a potential stadium sponsorship deal, would greatly reduce that sum.
Mr Savage said: “Those owed loans have told me they will do the deal and my gut feeling is they will do it, but it’s technically not done until we have a legal agreement.
“If I get my way, and if the club is on a sound footing going forward, I will meet all the debts as they fall due.
“I’m trying to go about this in a sensible and pragmatic way that reflects the football club, in balance with the city of Inverness.
“Then we can go from a position of strength to say if you want to buy the football club, what are you going to do with it? How do you see it going?
“But we don’t need to sell it, because I will run it.
“We have to realise, on that basis (him taking the club forward), we are talking about a Championship-level football club with Championship gates, and it is going to take us a few years to get back into the Premier League.
“We can only do that through the youth academy finding a Ryan Christie that we get proper money for.
“There must be realism. We will have to move forward on a realistic basis and what I want to do is build proper foundations.”
