BILLY BREMNER MEMORIAL JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN
Date: 30th March 2025
The image is very clear in my mind. A bulldozer sitting outside the front door standing next to it proudly is David Murray. The caption in the local newspaper is all about his offer to buy the club.
We’re not talking about Rangers but Ayr United. Prior to his attempt to buy Rangers fc David Murray had come back to his boyhood club of and offered to swoop in, buy it, invest heavily and take it from where it was sitting in the doldrums the Premier League.
Fortunately, or unfortunately that headline was all about why he was not going to be able to take over the club because Ayr United legend Ally MacLeod had cast doubt upon him. MacLeod was hardly noted for his visionary expertise but on this occasion seems to have been a little bit of a prophet. Murray, of course, went on to take on Rangers and run it in a manner that many have described including the person who apparently attempted to rescue it, Craig Whyte, as “a basket case”. It was therefore an escape perhaps for my little town club that could have meant we ran into huge amounts of debt as Rangers did, entered administration and unlike the large behemoth in Govan finally found ourselves on a scrap heap being referred to in hushed tones in the same way that Third Lanark is.
Now, if you haven’t already caught the fantastic series in BBC sounds that Martin Geisler as authored and is presenting on Vladimir Romanov – the man who almost ruined Hearts – then I would suggest that you head over there and stick on your headphones and listen it is a compelling podcast series. I have managed to listen to all nine episodes up till now with the last one an interview with the very man himself Mr Vladimir Romanov. It makes for an earworm that’s well worth inviting into your head.
Czar of Hearts tells the story of a club facing the brink and being brought back by an amazing saviour. Somebody who had the ability to get people to buy into a vision that Hearts, hitherto a club that was somewhere mid-table within Scottish football’s elite, was going to conquer Europe. In many ways, winning the Scottish Cup and bringing European football success to Hearts as well as many, many, many players, the last names of which people in Gorgie had to get their tongues round brought chutzpah and excitement. Romanov became a popular figure as he tore into the authorities and the status quo in our game because he had no real history in it. We loved him complaining about the Scottish Football Association and the big two of Glasgow Celtic and Rangers. In hindsight, it was an easy win for him to gather some support as the prejudice of those of us who feel that the prejudice of those in authority is to be challenged at every turn got a new spokesman with some clout to confirm our belief that there was corruption going on somewhere at the top.
And so, as he took control of the club the rollercoaster ride that many Hearts fans went on began until eventually it came crashing with no barrier at the bottom to stop the cart of unfulfilled promises.
But now we have not one but two clubs, currently still in League One, in administration and looking to survive. Both Dumbarton and Inverness Caledonian Thistle are looking for people to come in and take over.
Dumbarton are perhaps the one of the two, having now been confirmed as relegated into League Two, who look the sorriest. I well remember when they moved to the stadium in the shadow of the rock in Dumbarton that people felt that this was a good move from Boghead and the Strathclyde Homes Stadium, as I think it was originally named, was going to be the beginning of a bright new future for The Sons.
It has turned into a rollercoaster of a different type.
Not the one that allowed the likes of Romanov to take them into Europe but one that has seen them struggle from season to season to achieve anything like what was hoped for when they moved into that stadium.
The fact that it is a one-sided stadium in the shadow of one of the most iconic landmarks in Scotland has the shadow of The Rock, like the shadow of expectancy that never was realised.
Administrators have been proactive and seem to have kept fans abreast of their plight and perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel, though finding a new buyer seems to be tricky. You hope that Dumbarton, a name that has been in Scottish football for so long will continue because not only does it have a secure fan base and a great deal of affection for many people who are not supporters themselves, but it is a club that has a proud history.
As for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, history is something that in many ways it lacks having been brought together by Inverness Caledonian and Inverness Thistle merging to allow them to progress into the SPFL. When it started to talk about moving further down the road towards Fife to get some kind of affordable training facility or developing land next to it to have some kind of farm to increase revenue coming in through the door it all appeared rather… strange.
Perhaps the bells were ringing alarm, and we had tin ears.
When it went into administration with the imagery of Duncan Ferguson, the cheapest manager in Scotland who was working for nothing with his obligatory cardboard box leaving the stadium it was with a metaphorical tear in your eye that you listened to the news of Inverness Caledonian Jags going into administration.
Losing 15 points has been tough for both clubs, but the Jags have managed to climb themselves up into mid-table in League One and look very much as though they’re going to survive in that league. With the 15 points put on to their current total they would be sitting securely in the top four and there is an outside chance they may actually be able to do that given the run that they are on.
The fact that they are struggling to get to the end of a season but will do thanks to the help of local businessman Alan Savage is more than welcome. He has now come out and says he wants to take full control of the club with an £800,000 bid. Inverness Caley were at significant risk as administrators warned earlier this year, telling people that they couldn’t find a new owner that was going to take the club on.
Mr. Savage has been providing funding to keep the club afloat and part of his conditions of taking over is that long term loans are written off and that he takes 100% control of the club. There’s also talk of demolishing the stadium that they’re currently in and moving elsewhere in Inverness to find a more affordable cloth for their cutting.
Of course, we’ve got many examples within Scottish football of clubs who have gone from one venue to another in order to reimagine themselves. The current nomad of Scottish football is Clyde. Having lost their place at Shawfield Stadium, an increasingly forlorn building, they were then threatened with being tipped out of the Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld, that they’d made their home for many years thanks to a long running saga over the employment of David Goodwillie. They are currently in a groundshare with Hamilton Accies. Former Clyde manager and Houdini of League Two survival, Ian McCall said recently that what Clyde needs is a home more than anything else.
Languishing somewhere mid-table at the moment within League Two, having managed to haul themselves from certain relegation at one point last season Clyde are certainly struggling to find a fan base that will follow them wherever they lead.
And so, Inverness cannot afford to end up being nomads but if Alan Savage has the plan then it is quite clear that with nobody else sitting in the wings they should bite his hand off and take on his vision to steer the club from where they are into future financial security.
Unlike others who made their claim like Romanov and Murray that they were going to take a club into somewhere stratospheric Alan Savage has at least been the saviour of the recent past. Fans can feel that he has at least got a background and a track record of being the guy you should go to who is not going to fleece you.
With my own club instead of getting David Murray we went through a long period of time with the Camerons which kept us afloat and now have Alan Smith steering us hopefully towards the promised land of the Premier League.
The fact it’s stuttering on the pitch is unfortunate but the progress being made off the pitch including now buying and purchasing a piece of land next to the stadium for further development, having created a hub that is now bristling with fans on match day and a new stand that has covered the North Terrace means that we can look at David Smith not just as a saviour but as somebody who has invested heavily and put his money where his mouth is.
You’re hopeful that Alan Savage turns more into a Smith than he ever will a Romanov, but time will tell. Scottish football is not a secure investment. Indeed, the vagaries of running a business in the context of entertainment which is all predicated on results that nobody can rehearse is something that is filled with potholes, pitfalls and problems.
However, if Savage is the saviour, then Inverness Caledonian Thistle will hopefully be the club that will still be there in League One next year after their five point deduction to start the season and then will be romping back into the Championship.
As for Dumbarton fingers crossed because at this moment in time that the people who have been helping to fund the club – the fans – will find somebody so they don’t need GoFundMe pages any longer.
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