Scot has a future vision for Inverness CT
The signs were pointing to a winter of discontent for Inverness Caley Thistle.
But just weeks since a £500,000 funding gap threatened the club, Scot Gardiner reckons it is set for a Highland spring.
After taking the wheel as chief executive of the Caledonian Stadium outfit in April, Gardiner found himself steering a sinking ship.
Having failed to cut their cloth following relegation, the Caley Jags were haemorrhaging cash – and the men signing the cheques had had enough. The headlines looked bleak. However, after successfully sounding out fresh investment from a number of Highland businesspeople, Gardiner insists the future is bright for football in Scotland’s northern-most city.
“The immediate financial pressure has been lifted a bit,” he reveals.
“We have found some people of wealth and business respect, who have helped us along the path to re-capitalising the business.
“But it isn’t a case of ‘job done’. Now we’ve got to start re-engaging with all facets of the city.”
Around 70% of funding required to plug the budgetary hole left by the departure of previous board members has already been pledged ahead of this week’s club AGM.
More will be coined in from the staging of a concert by re-formed Irish “boyband” Westlife at the Caley Jags’ stadium next summer.
But Gardiner has been in the “crisis club” movie before with both Dundee and Hearts – and he isn’t standing still.
The Highland outfit don’t currently have the strong, multi-generational, community links of the Dark Blues or the Jam Tarts.
Indeed, the way the club was founded remains a source of bitterness amongst old-school supporters of Caledonian and Inverness Thistle, who left the Highland League in 1994 to form the new senior club.
For Gardiner, healing those wounds and laying down roots are a priority.
“This club has been disengaged from its city,” he admits.
“Clachnacuddin still play in the Highland League. But as far as the SPFL goes, it’s a one-team town.
“You wouldn’t know there’s a team, however, if you walk through the city centre. You won’t see a scarf, a hat, or a kit in any windows. You won’t see anything.
“The challenge now is to continue to stabilise the club with new capital, then reintegrate and re-engage with the city.
“Inverness is the fastest-growing city in Scotland, and it’s a stunning place to live.
“But as a club, we don’t have the historic aspect. It’s only 25 years old.
“Grandad didn’t support Caley Thistle. He supported either Caley or Thistle – and he’s not coming back because they merged.
“We actually had a Hall of Fame meeting recently, and there was a proposal to present a heritage award – one to a Caley player and one to a Thistle player.
“There was a huge debate about whether that was the right thing to do or not. There’s a feeling that it’s dragging up the past again.
“But both guys – Dave Milroy and Billy
Urquhart – are legends of the respective clubs and both come here every week to support Caley Thistle.
“They got over it, so why can’t we as a club get over it? But, at the same time, you’ve got to be sensitive to it.”
Before Gardiner’s arrival, the Caley Jags relied on £70,000 being pumped in by directors every month to keep going.
The need for cash still exists – and still will for as long as the club remains in the Championship.
But a new membership scheme aimed at the Highland business community is designed to help ease the financial burden on the club’s new directors.
And Gardiner is confident that with John Robertson is charge of first-team affairs, promotion – and the stability that would afford the club – is just around the corner.
“There were similarities between the off-field situation I found here, and what was at Dundee and Hearts when I arrived there,” he says.
“There were empty desks, people had been paid off, the club was losing money.
“But there’s a big difference in that difficulties off the field normally go handin-hand with difficulties on it.
“Here, there’s no sense of that.
“I think we’re in great hands. We’ve got a manager with a football brain the size of a planet, and I believe we will be there or thereabouts come the end of this season.
“Yes, Dundee United have built a decent lead, but we’re on the right track, and January could afford us the chance to make a few moves in the transfer market.
“In the Premiership, this club will not lose money. So getting there is our goal.”