15 Reasons & 66 Points

The Wyness Shuffle is back with news of the Caley Thistle resurgence under Scott Kellacher and Billy Mckay. Join Andrew Moffat, Andrew Young, Stevie Riley, Sandy Sutherland, and Lee Tarling as they discuss consecutive wins, Ferguson binned, the15 point penalty, and Dumbarton joining us in Admin hell. Plus 30 years-worth of ICT references packed into 2 hours and 24 minutes of wild conjecture and mild distraction.

00.58 Intro and Highland Highlights

There is sunshine on the horizon as we shade our eyes against the beautiful highlight highlights. The boys talk about their personal highlight from the last month including Big Musa’s arms, Adam McKinnon’s chest, and cardboard boxes.

08.03 Game by Game

We kick off by talking about the cold snap and the late call-off of Queen of the South away, before moving onto consecutive wins over Alloa and Cove away, the form of Charlie Gilmour, Adam Mackinnon, Paul Allan and many more, before discussing the changes the new Head Coach has made, and comparing the cold hard facts, stats and differences between Duncan Ferguson and Scott Kellacher’s football.

42.04 Administration

We cover the next steps of the administration process, the 20 interested parties, the crowdfunder, player and staff departures, and the power of work of the ICT Supporter’s Trust and Bar 94. And will the administrators be included in the ICT Secret Santa?

01.03.52 Dumbarton

There hasn’t been an insolvency event in Scottish football in some 12 years, then two come along at once. Dumbarton FC have been plunged into administration – after years of behind-the-scenes uncertainty. We spoke to Dumbarton fan and Lennox Herald and Daily Record reporter, and Terrace podcast contributor, Fraser Clarke, about the situation.

1.29.00 Duncan Ferguson: The Inquest

Duncan Ferguson arrived in a frenzy of publicity. A big name, big personality, but no pedigree in Scottish football, and at the time we said maybe when you’re as big as him then you don’t need a pedigree. Turns out you do. We discuss the entirety of his tenure, and why did it all go wrong.

1.54.22 The Number 15

A 15-point penalty doesn’t always have to be awful. It could also lend itself to some mildly amusing gags.

1.56.11 Talk to Me: Roddy Macgregor

We hope to get players and coaching staff from ICT onto the pod in the coming weeks and months but in the interim we spoke to a player (and a fan) who we all wish was still wearing the red and blue.

2.10.08 League Lookahead and Season Predictions

We look ahead to Cove in the Scottish Cup, and Montrose, Arbroath, and Stenny in the league, before pondering over where we will finish come the end of the season.

There’s it.

THE A TEAM

Inverness Caledonian Thistle is officially in administration as of Tuesday 22 October 2024.

On 2nd October, (then) interim ICT chairman Panos Thomas issued a club statement summarising the key findings of financial consultant Alan Savage’s forensic audit, announcing the launch of a ‘Save ICT’ crowdfunding appeal and warning that ‘unless the Appeal can raise £200k immediately, and certainly by Wednesday, 16th October, then Administration is inevitable.’

On 21st October, after several days of rumour about last-minute investment, (now) interim chairman Scott Young confirmed that the administration process had begun.

In this epic episode of TWS, recorded on the evening of the 21st, host Andrew Moffat is joined by Stevie Riley, Andrew Young, pod original gangster Ross Mackenzie, The Press and Journal's Paul Chalk, and some special guests to discuss what administration will mean for the staff and supporters of Caley Thistle, how the club got to this point, and what the future might look like. Is this the next stage of an inexorable decline, or the start of a much-needed reset? And despite it all we do try to have a bit of craic as well cause you've got to, haven't you?

Let’s shuffle!

00:01:07 – Introduction and initial thoughts. Moff introduces the panel and gauges feelings about administration now being a reality.

00:08:18 – The October 8th meeting. At the recent open meeting in the stadium’s Highlander suite, Scott Young, Alan Savage and Charlie Christie spoke to supporters. We discuss the key points that emerged from it and the mood among those in attendance.

00:18:51 – What will administration look like for ICT? Insights from the interim chairman. We are joined for this part of the podcast by Interim Chairman Scott Young, who talks us through the potential timescale and structure of the administration process, the role of the administrators, the implications for club staff and for the club’s SPFL status. He also reflects on his short but eventful time on the board and what his role might be going forward.

00:43:12 – The squad: what next? An inevitable consequence of administration will be the loss of some players. We discuss what the criteria for retaining or releasing players could be and what the squad might look like after the administrators’ work is done. And if the manager, as he suspects, has already had his last game in charge, who might succeed him?

00:54:40 – The view from the north stand. Some die-hard ICT fans discuss their feelings about the imminence of administration.

00:56:35 – The A-Word: a fan’s perspective. We are joined by Livingston fan Liam Innes, who reflects on what it was like to watch the club he loves go through administration – twice!

01:17:23 – The old regime(s). So how did ICT get to this point? We consider not only the mismanagement and negligence of the most recent regime, but also how the seeds of ICT’s decline were probably sown much further back in the club’s history.

01:30:20 – Talk to me. ICT groundsman Dale Stephen talks about work and life at the Caledonian Stadium under the shadow of administration.

01:59:00 – More views from the north stand. Our ICT die-hards share their hopes for the future.

02:00:40 – Game by game. Finally, some discussion of matters on the pitch! We review the recent games against Arbroath and Annan in the league, either side of the narrow Challenge Cup loss to Livingston.

02:16:50 – League Lookahead. A very brief chat about the upcoming fixtures against Dumbarton, Kelty, Cove Rangers, Alloa and Queen of the South.

02:27:20 – The New Era. Once the administration process is over, what might the future look like for ICT and how can we make it work? We share some thoughts and hopes.

02:38:09 – Competition winner. No competition in this episode, unfortunately, but we do reveal the winner of the 30th anniversary away youth top donated by Alan Savage.

02:39:50 – Final thoughts. A few last reflections from our supporters and from this episode’s panel.

The Season Starts Here.

The Wyness Shuffle is back! Andrew Moffat, Sandy Sutherland, Andrew Young and Lee Tarling are joined by guest panellist, the SPFL’s number one emergency assistant referee Jamie MacKinnon for a mammoth pod of ICTFC stuff.

On this pod: We talk about all the football: all the draws, and a lesser spotted win, an update from the Supporter’s Trust, league lookahead, famous interruptions, team selection, tactics, opportunities for young players, plus finances and the dreaded ‘A-word.’

And above all we have an exclusive two-part interview with the man, the myth, the legend Alan Savage.

02:10 Headlines: Since last we did a podcast a lot has happened in the world. We talk about the big headlines: Trump, Oasis tickets, sausages and strictly.

05:20 Game by Game: Stenny and Cove: The boos rang out after the home draw with Stenny. We talk about what was one of the poorest showings this season, Lee tells us why he’s had enough, before we move on to Cove and a slightly better performance the week previous but the same result.

24:00 The Emergency Linesman/Assistant Referee: We are joined by the brilliant Jamie MacKinnon, who answered the call in the recent Cove home game and ended up running the line for 30 minutes! He gives us the lowdown on his experience.

33:43 Game by Game: Alloa, Stirling, and Queen of the South: A couple of wins in here but it feels like long ago. Alloa wasn’t too bad but we discuss how the points were thrown away.

40:38 Talk to Me: The Consultant Part 1: Savage in name but pragmatic in nature, Chairman of Inverness-based engineering recruitment business, Orion Group, former Chairman of ICTFC and now The Consultant talks about Investment, legal issues, crowds, the fan experience, land, and the council.

01:14:35 The Disruptors: The Cove game was interrupted by an injured ref, which put Jamie in an entirely unexpected position, but what other interruptions have there been in the beautiful game over the years or where have people popped up unexpectedly? Richie hart’s dog, Yogi Hughes naked, Darren Jackson, big holes, locusts, Tory politicians, Alsatians, injured pigeons, dead racoons, Gerard Butler, Nacho Novo, Rottweiler care, Henri Anier’s chat up lines, a big bag of condoms, and Jamie's Uncle.

01:24:00 The Supporter’s Trust: The Supporter’s Trust have had a long summer, having been heavily involved one way or another in the changes at the club, they’ve gained record membership numbers, been more public facing than any ICT fan group has ever been and are now running the bar at the ground. We caught up with Trust Vice-Chair Laura Grant.

01:47:17 Talk 2 Me: The Consultant Part 2: In this part Alan focuses on the Youth Academy, the return of old players, going to war, the club’s debt, his expectations on the football front, and ‘a reset.’ We then go off on a tangent and moan about the manager.

02:17.00 THE A-WORD: We discuss Alan Savage’s recommendations to the board and take a very prophetic guess as to what they may be: administration, and what that might mean. What does ‘a reset’ mean in reality? Could we claw back a 15-point deduction? We thought ‘something big is on the table’ and it looks like we were right.

02:23:18 Game by Game: We discuss who has the heating on before looking forward to Arbroath, Livingston, Annan, and Dumbarton

02:35.41 Competition Time! The return of Competition time, in which you can win a kid’s 30th anniversary shirt. Courtesy of Mr Savage.

02:37:42 Final thoughts and bye for now

Welcome to the Wyness Shuffle. The ICTFC fan podcast, the podcast with fireworks!

On this pod: the physical departure of now ex ICT CEO Scot Gardiner, the long sought after and awaited return of former ICT Chairman Alan Savage, has Ketan Makwana been phygitally fudged, CEO Charlie Christie!, the views of the Supporter's Trust, some stuff about some football games, plus 30 years-worth of ICT references packed into 2 hours and 13 minutes of wild conjecture and mild distraction.

Let's shuffle!

LINE-UP

01.00: Boom! Fireworks and hellos.

02.00 The Headlines. Moff runs through a summary of events since the last podcast. Scot Gardiner is gone, Ketan Makwana has sailed away, and Alan Savage is the King! The boys provide their initial reactions and for the first time in many many months there is joy on this podcast!

13.09: Alan Savage! The one-time Chairman during one of our most successful spells has returned to the club, booted out Scot Gardiner, got rid of 77Ventures and provided some much needed sanity at Caledonian Stadium. The panellists discuss his return.

21.05: Talk2Me. The Supporter’s Trust. Moff speak to George Moodie from the ICT Supporter’s Trust. George outlines the great relationship between the Trust and Alan Savage and how he sees events going over the next few months.

51.30: Scot Gardiner. His five year term as ICT CEO is over, reported by the Scottish Sun to have ‘come to and end minutes after Alan Savage rejoined the club. We go through the most recent aspects of his reign.

1.04.18: Ketan Makwana and Seventy7 Ventures. Only last month we were all getting phygital, he was all over the papers and social media, he had a meeting with the manager, and now he's sailing away into the Dubai sunshine. Join us for some fun-sense.

1.11.25: Talk2Me: Charlie Christie. 314 games and 34 goals for ICTFC from 94/95 – 03/04. Managed the team from January 2006 until August 2007. Played for Caledonian. Played for Thistle. As a player won the Challenge Cup, won the Third Division, won the First Division. And now ICTFC CEO. Stevie spoke to Charlie Christie.

1.38.45: Game by Game. All in all this season that’s 1 win in 7 games. We analyse the league action to date with the games v Dumbarton, Annan, and Montrose.

1.53.33: League Lookahead. It's a very tough round of fixtures coming up, albeit against teams you would think an ICT side would be beating. We judge our chances versus Kelty, Queen of the South, and Alloa.

2.06.00: Whatyousayinmun? A view from the terraces from ICT fans Beth Kemp, Lynn Macdonald, Mike Macrae and Hamish Maclennan.

2.10.37: Final thoughts on the myriad of Caley Thistle stuff and maybe a phygital quote to finish.

There's it.

ICT PHYGITAL: A 2024-25 SEASON PREVIEW

The league season we feared ICT might never see is nearly upon us, we still have a club, and things are still… interesting. Moff, Stevie, Sandy, AY, Lee and the P&J’s Paul ‘Chalky’ Chalk convene to discuss what the season might hold for the club on and off the pitch, and whether the future really is phygital. Let’s shuffle!

00:00:59 – Welcome. Moff introduces the panellists, hears about their incredibly boring lives, then gives a brief summary of the incredibly bizarre life of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC since May, which leads neatly into a discussion of…

00:05:14 – New Investment. The panellists go over what we know so far (not much!) about the club’s potential new owner, Ketan Makwana of Seventy7 Ventures, and consider some of the many, many questions his proposed investment raises.

00:31:24 – League Cup Group Games / Current Squad. After a brief overview of the recent games against Annan, Bonnyrigg Rose, Arbroath and Dundee, we discuss the players who look like being key to our season, with particular focus on some of the academy players who have graduated to the first team.

00:43:48 – Talk to Me: Ryan Esson. In an extract from a longer interview, the recently-departed under-18 coach and Scottish Cup-winning goalkeeper talks to Stevie about the club’s crop of young players.

00:52:54 – Areas for improvement. Concluding the discussion of the current squad, the panellists identify the areas in most need of strengthening.

00:55:28 – The Big Goodbye. We remember those players we have lost. And there’s a lot of them.

01:03:31 – Talk to Me: Aaron Doran. Stevie’s lengthy interview with Aaron will be released as a stand-alone podcast some time in the future, but in this extract he describes his final days at the club, his disappointment at the shoddy way he was treated by those in charge, and his debt of gratitude to the fans and his ex-colleagues.

01:18:20 – The Manager. A very brief discussion of Duncan Ferguson and whether there have been any signs of improvement in his tactics and his management in the first weeks of this season.

01:23:17 – The Opposition: Who’s Who in League One. We run the rule over Alloa, Annan, Arbroath, Cove Rangers, Dumbarton, Kelty, Montrose, Queen of the South and Stenhousemuir, then give some predictions for final placings. This segues into…

01:43:51 – Opening Fixtures. A quick chat about our first four league games, against Dumbarton at home, Annan away, Montrose at home and Kelty away.

01:45:47 – The Immortal Howden Ender: Johndo Mackenzie. We remember one of the most devoted, most recognisable and most beloved characters in the ICT support. RIP, Johndo.

AKA The Mark Ridgers Show!

Welcome to the third of our Caley Thistle Crisis pods, following on from the record-breaking download numbers of Long Way Down and 136 Miles from Home.

Since we last put a podcast out, the Kelty plan is off, the Chairman has gone and the CEO is going. We talk about all of the dramatic events of the last couple of weeks, look back at our last two pods, the innovatively defunct Kelty Plan, the ringfenced youth academy and focus on what the future may hold in terms of investment and the dreaded threat of administration.

And we do all that with ICT Number One Mark Ridgers! The now out of contract goalkeeper talks about this past season, offers his opinions on the current goings on and what the future may hold for him. Join Mark, along with Stevie Riley, Andrew Young, Lee Tarling, and Andrew Moffat as they dissect all things ICTFC.

01:30 Mark Ridgers: Mark talks the disappointment of relegation, the manager, teammates, and the fact that he is now out of contract but no one from the club has been in touch with him.

06:44 Worries: What is the main thing worrying the boys at the moment? Will we have a club to support? What is the bronze license? Is administration inevitable?

10:15 Downloads: Thanks to everyone for listening over the past few weeks. Some 3,200 people downloaded Long Way Down, our pod about Relegation and the Kelty announcement, and some 2,300 people downloaded 136 Miles from Home, our pod with now former ICT Chairman Ross Morrison.

11.17 Recap of events: A potted history of the series of events that led to this before we analyse the 137 word statement the club issued on 5 June. Mark gives his thoughts on the Kelty plan and the fact he and fellow players were not consulted.

20:18 View from the Fans: Liz MacRae, Jonny Campbell and David Moffat (nothing like a bit of nepotism, or maybe we only added these at the last minute because we forgot to ask for any) offer their opinions.

22:03 The resignations: Ross Morrison has resigned, Scot Gardiner is leaving, we discuss both men and their efforts behind the scenes, while reflecting on Ross’ appearance on the last podcast. We go on to talk about the current situation both men are leaving behind and the football club’s desperate need for cashflow. Mark also reflects on his time at Hearts when the Jambos went into administration, before talking about his seven years at Inverness, and his thoughts about Duncan Ferguson and this past season.

59.04 The Youth Academy: Alan Savage, chief executive of Inverness-based Orion Group, has come in to save the youth academy, pledging to cover any shortfalls with sponsorships of various types from £50,000-£100,000 and make sure the youth system is protected. We discuss.

1:08:43 View from the fans: The finances

1:09:46 Price of Football: We managed to speak to the UK’s number one football financial expert, Keiran Maguire from one of the country’s most popular podcasts, with Kevin Day, The Price of Football. Kieran is a British academic, author, and broadcaster. He specialises in the accountancy of association football and wrote the book The Price of Football. His expertise is frequently sought within English football media. So what did he have to say about the situation at ICT and how worried should we be (the answer is very)?

1:27:40 Investment and Administration: We reflect on Kieran’s comments, the realities and processes of administration, how it could be avoided, debt, assets, other financial related stuff, how the situation affects current players and potential players, and what the likely scenarios might be for the football club.

1:53:03 Feedback: Amid the carnage of the last few weeks, as a podcast we’ve received some great feedback for the recent pods. Thanks for everyone whose dropped us a comment or message. We read some out.

1.55.15 Final thoughts from the Shufflers. ‘The Kelty battle has been won but there’s a bigger fight ahead.’

An interview with ICTFC Chairman Ross Morrison.

It’s not often we record two pods in four days (as in never), but desperate times call for desperate measures.

With the support still reeling from the ICT board’s announcement that it intends to move all football operations to Kelty, we managed to get 35 minutes with the Chairman before he headed off to another board meeting.

Andrew Moffat, Stevie Riley, Sandy Sutherland, Andrew Young, and George Moodie from the Supporters’ Trust, sat down with club Chairman Ross Morrison to put some of the fans’ concerns to him and give him a right of reply.

The discussion begins with Ross’s explanation of their reasons for the move; from there, we ask how much support the idea had from the rest of the board, about the extent to which alternative funding streams and alternative playing squad models were investigated, why supporters were not consulted at a far earlier stage, and whether the deal can still be reversed.

The conversation also touches on the place of the academy and youth development at Caley Thistle going forward, and whether it has been possible to do anything about contracts for last season.

We talk about the financial position of the club more generally. Above all, we ask Ross if he really appreciates the anger and sense of betrayal among the supporters over the Kelty scheme and the way it was announced.

We also ask about the potential impact of the likely boycott on season ticket renewals should it go ahead, and we emphasise the widespread feeling that the CEO’s position is no longer tenable.

We did our best! Let's see what happens...

#BringItOnHome

Caley Thistle have been relegated to the third tier of Scottish football for this first time this century. Truly the saddest day in the club’s 30 year history, that was until the club announced that they would be moving the football operations to Fife!

This podcast was originally planned to focus on the relegation, to discuss where things went wrong, to examine where the blame lay and to look at how the club and supporters could regroup and come together as one to look to the future.

All that went out the window with the Kelty announcement. Never has there been a more universally derided statement from the football club.

Join Andrew Moffat, Andrew Young, Stevie Riley, Sandy Sutherland, Lee Tarling and many special guests as we discuss all that and all of the below in a 2 hour 30 minute pod (honestly we couldn’t cut it further).

Please do note that this is a very rough outline. Topics pop up all over the place, much like Billy Mackay last season.

Also please note this episode is full of emotion and as such has a lot of colourful language. If that's not your thing, this podcast probably isn't either.

LINE-UP

02.00 Kelty: The football club is moving football operations Monday to Friday to Kelty Hearts Central Park from the start of June. We talk housing, fan reactions, the manager’s role in this, the CEO and the Chairman, community outreach, mercenaries, youth players, Inverness based players, club staff, and we might get a bit emotional.

32.43 The Game: We talk the Hamilton and Montrose play-off games, plus the angry scenes at full time on the last game of the season with some fans invading the pitch and making their views known and very clear to the directors. We also talk statements, how long it took ICT to come out with one, what that first one said and reflect on the call for unity. Good one.

34.43 I’m Going Down: We get the views from the fans on this past season, the football and the manager.

37.55 Duncan Ferguson: We talk the Manager, his ineptitude, his questionable decisions, his excuses, his tactics, Billy Mackay, and Lee goes on about Champagne football versus lemonade money.

49.47 Talk to Me: Barry Wilson: An interview with a member of Caley Thistle’s coaching staff this season. An absolute Caley Thistle icon. 353 games and 83 goals over two spells with the club, a league winner and a legend and most recently, assistant manager

1.13.50 Talk to Me: Falkirk Daft: We speak to someone who has been there and done it and bought five t-shirts. Falkirk took five years to get back up to the championship. Falkirk were a basket case, and they’ve just gone undefeated in winning league one. We talk to John McInally from Falkirk Daft.

1.42.55 Long Way Down: The fans are back with their views on the Club, the CEO and the Chairman and where we go from here.

1.48.56 Next Season: 30 years of ICT. Should be a time of celebration, should be a programme of events over the course of the season celebrating the achievements of the past incumbents of the football club. We discuss that and the painful indifference of those running the club. We talk season tickets, will the boys renew? We talk the CEO and the Chairman. We look at the practicalities of Duncan Ferguson managing in League One. We focus on contracts and what recruitment might look like.

2.08.41: Captain my Captain: Lee Tarling makes a call to arms with the best 5 minutes this podcast has produced in years!

2.13.50 League One Opposition: Alloa, Annan, Arbroath, Cove, Dumbarton, Kelty Hearts, Montrose, QOS, Stenhousemuir. Looks like a lot of fun. We discuss whether to support or not to support.

2.21.08 The Legends: Four heroes of yesterday return to offer their thoughts on the relegation.

2.27.31 Where do we go from here?

2.34.00 Bring it on Home