Two weeks to save Inverness Caley Thistle, says club

Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (ICTFC) has proposed setting up a Crowdfunding page to raise £200,000 in two weeks to avoid being placed in administration this month.

The 2015 Scottish Cup-winning club has told shareholders that without the funds the club would be insolvent.

It has suggested setting up a Save ICT Appeal, and has asked shareholders for any other "innovative ideas" to generate substantial funding.

But ICTFC added that to survive until the end of this season next May it would need to find a "credible buyer" or up to £1.6m investment - and finish second in League 1 to earn the runners-up prize-money.

ICTFC's financial problems were exposed after it was relegated from the Scottish Championship at the end of last season.

Fans reacted angrily to the drop into League 1 and to subsequent issues including a plan to move the Jags' training base to Fife.

Losses ran to £1.2m last season and the club has forecast a similar loss this season, but warned that figure would not include money spent on restructuring following relegation.

A football club enters administration when its debts are greater than its assets, or when it cannot pay debts when due, according to trade association R3.

The aim of the process is to rescue the club as a going concern in the hope of finding a buyer for it.

Investor and former chairman Alan Savage revealed in last week's episode of BBC Scotland's A View from the Terrace that putting the club into administration would ease the financial pressures.

But he said it risked a deduction in league points as punishment and even the potential of being relegated to the part-time professional Highland League.

Inverness fans reacted angrily to relegation at the end of last season

ICTFC was in talks with a potential buyer earlier this year, but later suspended the negotiations.

In a letter, the club told shareholders: "We need to accept the reality of the situation that with debt by May 2025 likely to be £1.4-£1.6m to cover cash loss, potential claims and back log creditors and a balance sheet standing at negative £3.8m by the financial year end in May 2025, finding a credible buyer is highly aspirational."

ICTFC said there remained a hope that administration could be avoided, but it needed an immediate injection of new funds.

It said: "Unless the appeal can raise £200,000 immediately, and certainly by Wednesday 16 October, then administration is inevitable because the club would be insolvent."

In the letter, the club said its role in a proposed battery electric storage scheme could earn it £3.4m.

But the project is the subject of a legal wrangle after Highland councillors refused the development planning permission.

ICT Supporters Trust urged major shareholders and former directors to help prevent the club from going into administration.

It said: "We are hugely concerned about recent events regarding the club’s financial future.

"It was only five weeks ago that supporters were advised that the club had been saved and administration was no longer a possibility."