Scot Gardiner has heard enough now. Leaving Inverness Caledonian Thistle in August, the former chief executive planned to keep his own counsel.
Pursuing a claim against his former employer, picking over old scabs held no appeal.
Facing accusations from ex-chairman and ICT benefactor Alan Savage of incompetence and actions liable to drive the club towards administration, the former Hearts and Dundee executive feels he can no longer stay silent.
In a statement to Mail Sport, Gardiner said he plans to pursue a defamation action against Savage, the Inverness board and unspecified others.
The time has come to say his piece.
‘Following six chaotic weeks where the new board-appointed business and investment consultant Mr Savage has given several interviews threatening administration within days - sometimes even on the same day - he has repeatedly defamed and lied about me in public and private to such an extent that I have had my legal team serve him, the board of directors and others with Letters before Action,’ he said.
‘Further action will now follow given this continued malicious campaign of defamatory and untrue statements relating to myself.’
Scot Gardiner on pitch at Caley Thistle before he quit as CEO
Former chairman of Inverness Caley Thistle Alan Savage
Ketan Makwana of Seventy 7 Ventures, who made a bid to take over Highland club
The problems began the day Inverness publicly announced a plan to save a seven-figure sum annually. In a bid to minimise the number of loan players the club would have to sign from England, they would move the club’s first-team training base to Kelty in Fife, 135 miles from Inverness. It felt like an affront to the Highland community. The backlash from fans and the wider community was ferocious, forcing Gardiner and chairman Ross Morrison to step down. That was far from the end of the matter.
Asked to stay on as long as it took to find a new buyer – no-one else knew where to start – Gardiner engaged with three serious potential buyers. The five-man board then unanimously accepted a £2.5million offer for 51 per cent of the club from Ketan Makwana of Seventy 7 Ventures. When push came to shove, it was the only one they had.
Respected local businessman Savage was unimpressed and made a formal offer to the Inverness board to fund the club for a minimum of three months and a maximum of six provided they suspended all discussions with Makwana and make him (Savage) a director of the club with immediate effect.
Eyebrows were raised when, on the day of his appointment to the board, he promptly resigned.
On September 20 – six weeks after his offer of financial sustenance – boardroom minutes show that the chairman of the Orion Group presented a paper to directors recommending that they appoint an administrator ‘with immediate effect’.
BDO were engaged shortly afterwards and, in the weeks since, the 2015 Scottish Cup winners have embarked upon a precipitous death slide towards administration. There’s a grim feeling of inevitability over what comes next.
The club need to raise £200,000 by the next week to avoid an insolvency event. Currently hovering around the £75,000 mark, the outlook is bleak.
At an open meeting of angry and concerned fans in midweek, Savage spoke of ‘five years of financial and operational neglect’.
Should Inverness plunge into administration next week, however, Gardiner will refute any suggestion of complicity.
Despite question marks over the liquidity of Seventy 7 Ventures, Inverness *had* a potential saviour, he says. The day they turned their back on the £2.5m offer from Makwana, they were back to square one.
Manager Duncan Ferguson, above right, with Gardiner before the CEO left the club
The proud Highland club is now heading towards administration
Ferguson admits dire financial situation has affected him and his players
Offering his side of the story for the first time, Gardiner adds: ‘Ketan Makwana, the executive chairman of Seventy 7 Ventures, flew to Inverness to meet with Panos Thomas who was representing the ICT Board and for further meetings with Ross Morrison and senior figures from Highland Council.
‘Mr Thomas spoke and corresponded continuously over the coming days and weeks with Ketan, as did myself and Ross Morrison.
The Seventy 7 offer was subsequently unanimously accepted by the five-man board. I had no vote or final say on this matter.
‘However, on August 12, there was a formal offer to the ICT board from Alan Savage to fund the club for a minimum of three months and a maximum of six months and to become a director of the club with immediate effect provided they immediately suspended all discussions and negotiations with Seventy 7 Ventures and again perform another U-turn on the £2.5m offer the board had unanimously accepted.
‘Mr Savage became a director of the club the same day, fulfilling his commitment to the board as illustrated in his 12 point heads of terms, then resigned from the board later that day.’
On August 14, Savage was quoted in the media citing interest from Chinese and Portuguese investors in buying the club. At this week’s open meeting, supporters were also told of fresh interest from Denmark, the United States and UAE.
The need for one of the potential investors to step forward quickly has never been greater, despite an offer by the Orion Group to the Inverness board to ‘fund the day-to-day cash flow of the club until a suitable buyer of ICT with the right ambitions and financial credibility has been found’.
Despite lingering anger over the previous rejection, Makwane has been back in touch with Inverness about reviving his Seventy 7 takeover plan, a move Gardiner believes is the most realistic chance of averting a lurch into administration.
‘When Seventy 7 Ventures read of the impending administration - which has been trailed by Mr Savage since he offered to support the club as long as their previously accepted £2.5m offer was discarded - they made another seven-figure offer to interim chairman Panos Thomas, subject to absolute confidentiality with the intention of stopping the club going into administration.
‘Mr Savage immediately published this return to the table by Seventy 7 Ventures in an interview with the press.
An offer which both he and the now three-man board, I am told, failed to mention at the fans/shareholders open meeting last week.
‘They did, however, insist that administration was the best option for the club now.’
Gardiner disagrees with that notion, having experienced post-administration at Dundee and Hearts. Insolvency, he argues, would be a ‘hellish experience.’ The loss of points, transfer embargo and release of players would be ‘catastrophic’.
Staying silent for him is no longer an option.