Caley Thistle chairman says rock stars can buy club after Championship promotion success

Rock stars have famously delighted fans with concerts at Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s stadium.

Now they are being invited to buy the club.

The tongue-in-cheek offer has come from the man who rescued the Highland side from financial crisis and has just seen them win promotion.

Highland businessman Alan Savage led an £800,000 buyout last year and has personally invested more than £1m to keep Caley Thistle alive.

He said the club’s recent League 1 win was a reward for the effort across the club.

Savage told STV News: “I’m proud of everybody’s contribution from the bottom up. Everyone has played a part. I think the place is much happier. We’ve got a good baseload of happiness, if you can put it that way.

“I think that filtered up through to the management and to the players. I think we’ve got a good squad, brilliant management and I think we deserved what we got. I’m immensely proud.”

Caley’s season began under a cloud, with the club docked five points after entering administration in October 2024.

Shortly afterwards, Scott Kellacher replaced the sacked Duncan Ferguson as manager.

Savage backed Kellacher and assistant Billy McKay in the transfer market as the club pushed for promotion, and the chairman also has big ambitions for the stadium’s future.

In the past, he helped bring some of the biggest names in music to perform there, and he hopes to do so again as part of plans to turn the venue into a seven-day attraction.

He also joked that he would welcome celebrity owners similar to those who transformed Welsh side Wrexham.

Savage said: “If two American rock stars come, they can have the club. If they have the right plan and the right intent, I’d give them away for nothing.”

The club has already secured a major sponsorship deal with a betting company, and Savage has further plans to attract visitors to the area.

Savage said: “We’ve got an arch going up shortly. Our registered company’s the NorthCoast500 official start, the NC500 official finish.

“So, we’ll be starting the NC500 with an electrical supply, so we’ve got superchargers. We’ve got some ideas on a truck stop. We’re going to open a restaurant. We’re going to try and attract the cruiseliners. And we’re going to try to be a holding point for visitors to the castle.”

Savage also praised the club’s supporters, who turned out in large numbers to witness the club’s turnaround.

Among them were pupils from Muirtown Primary School, who joined in the celebrations last week.

Savage said: “I’ve enjoyed it all but when you’re a businessman you like to be in control of things. But when you go onto a football pitch anything can happen.”