INVERNESS CALEY’S new owners have stumped up £70,000 to have their kit released by suppliers Puma – after the old regime failed to pay the bill for LAST season’s strips.
Caley’s players have been turning out in their 2023-24 tops and shorts so far, despite the club launching the new range on their own website as far back as June 15.
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They encouraged fans to pre-order from their shop, promising them their deliveries would start arriving a month ago.
But the unpaid bill with the supplier meant they’d been left sitting in a warehouse down south.
Incoming owner Alan Savage, who flamed ex-CEO Scot Gardiner for his running of the club on Wednesday, has discovered dozens of unpaid bills since stepping in earlier this week.
The Puma one was one of the most pressing so they had to write a cheque first thing on Thursday morning to smooth over the delivery problems.
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Caley’s new regime have also now squared up Highland rivals Ross County, Dundee and Livingston for loan wage payments which were outstanding for Alex Samuel, Cammy Kerr and Morgan Boyes.
Those three clubs hadn’t been paid what they were due so had threatened SPFL action unless the bills were settled.
Savage and his team are battling to secure Caley’s future, although they are discovering the problems are far worse than first anticipated.
Savage, who hopes to stabilise the club then sell it to either Chinese or Portuguese investors further down the line, said: “I’ve started to look at the list of people we owe money to.
“The Inland Revenue are owed money as well as a lot of suppliers, to a quantum of around £700,000, so it’s a big job to assimilate it all.
“Inverness is an attractive position but it needs to have a strong balance sheet and no debt.
“It can’t get any worse, because I am in full control of the cheque book now and Charlie Christie, who knows the club intimately, is the CEO.
“He knows what the problems have been so we have come together and we are going to control the costs.”
Gardiner, whose five-year tenure was brought to a swift end within minutes of the Orion Group chief’s arrival, has been accused of withholding crucial information from the Inverness board of directors.
Savage has claimed his actions left the previous chairman unaware of how serious their financial problems really are.
Caley’s entire infrastructure is on the verge of collapse, with players forced to train at odd times due to not having their own dedicated physio.
Instead, boss Duncan Ferguson has had to schedule their sessions around the availability of a stand-in who works for an external clinic but has agreed to help out.
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