Scot Gardiner’s five-year reign as Caley Thistle chief executive was defined by poor communication and concerns about his own ego, a number of his former associates have said.
Gardiner left under a cloud in August and is now pursuing his former employer for £140,000.
The club is currently on the brink of administration and is pursuing a crowdfunder to keep it alive.
As Caley Thistle’s board of directors gathered to assess his time in charge, The Press and Journal spoke to numerous sources who dealt with Gardiner inside and outside the football club.
They claimed that Gardiner:
- displayed a lack of transparency that led to a “complete loss of faith” among the board of directors
- dismissed the idea of showing any remorse after the club’s relegation to League One in May and was instead focused on “going after” fans who demonstrated against him
- regularly made wild accusations about club employees, associates and supporters
- was badly organised and not interested in anyone else’s opinion
Who has contributed to this article?
This is the first of a three-part series looking into the leadership of Scot Gardiner.
Its publication follows conversations with more than a dozen sources who worked alongside him or dealt with him during his time at Caley Thistle.
That list of sources includes club legends, directors, behind-the-scenes staff and prominent Highland officials.
Gardiner was asked to comment on the criticisms levelled at him.
He responded with a lengthy statement that was written in red and drifted into block capitals.
On several occasions, he threatened legal action against this newspaper and other individuals.
Gardiner’s responses will be included in the story as we progress from one aspect to another.
In short, he did not accept any of the criticisms of his time with the club.
Gardiner also did not accept any responsibility for the perilous situation that Caley Thistle currently finds itself in.
OK, let’s get into it.
From early promise to fan boycott
Caley Thistle were preparing for a Scottish Cup semi-final appearance and pushing for promotion to the Premiership when Gardiner arrived in April 2019.
Amid a troubling financial picture, he said he wanted to outline a strategy that would “give confidence to the local and regional business community”.
But by the time Gardiner resigned in June 2024, things looked altogether different.
The club had just endured a chaotic few months that saw them relegated to the third tier, nearly go out of business and facing a boycott from its own supporters.
Gardiner remained with the club despite his resignation. He was offering to help its efforts to find the new buyer needed to save it.
But he left in August after Caley Thistle suspended negotiations with “fantasist” investor Ketan Makwana, a man who Gardiner endorsed.
After leaving the club, staff claimed that he had 28,000 unread emails in his work inbox.
Caley Thistle directors have their say on Scot Gardiner
At a recent board meeting, directors were given the chance to offer their views on Gardiner’s leadership.
In minutes from the meeting seen by The Press and Journal, one person present accused him of “making up numbers” to suit his budget.
They also questioned his financial competence.
Gardiner has also been accused of misrepresenting the club’s financial picture by including things that hadn’t yet materialised – including the controversial battery storage scheme and a lucrative park-and-ride deal – in the accounts.
In response to these claims, Gardiner said he “succeeded” in previous roles at Hearts and Dundee.
He said: “I answered directly to chairman Ross Morrison and the board of directors for five-and-a-half years.
“Not once in the last five-and-a-half years of Ross Morrison’s tenure have any of these accusations been stated in a single board meeting I have attended, nor have they been said to me by a single director, either verbally or in writing.
“All board meetings are minuted, and barring the last three months which followed our resignations, I have never failed to hold the chairman’s complete support and by default, the board.
“They are telling lies. I have only ever presented the numbers provided to me by the finance department or by the acting club finance director Liam Dalgarno.
“At my last two clubs, there were no such issues or wild accusations.”
Another employee, who has decades of experience with the club, said Gardiner had been “the most difficult and unhelpful individual” they had ever worked with.
The employee added: “His constant ignoring of matters, condescending manner to staff and narcissistic mindset that he knew best about everything has proven extremely damaging to the club, its staff, its shareholders and supporters alike.”
Gardiner replied: “Not everyone is going to like you. Particularly those whose flaws and underperformances a CEO may have to highlight.
“There are plenty of staff, directors, players and shareholders I will now count as lifelong friends and vice-versa.”
Gardiner focused on ‘persecuting’ fans after relegation demonstration
Things were already looking grim for Caley Thistle in early 2024.
A failed planning application for a battery storage scheme in Inverness meant the club missed out on a £3.4m windfall.
But the situation turned from bad to worse in May.
Caley Thistle finished second-bottom of the Championship. They were then beaten in the play-offs to condemn them to relegation to the third tier.
It’s the lowest level that the club has competed at since 1999.
After defeat at home to Hamilton sealed their fate, ICT supporters stormed the pitch to protest against Gardiner.
In the aftermath of the loss, the club’s board gathered to decide what to do next.
A boardroom insider told The Press and Journal: “The overwhelming feeling among the directors was to produce a written statement to fans, expressing remorse for this outcome.
“Instead, Scot Gardiner was focusing on how to persecute our fans who, disappointed at the end of the game, ran onto the pitch to demonstrate.
“He produced photographs of individuals to ‘go after them’. He could not accept that an apology was the correct action at the time.”
Gardiner called the insider’s assessment “risible” and a “shocking attempt at character assassination”.
He said: “The second quote would be funny if it wasn’t such an embarrassment to someone who actually held the position of director of a great football club.
“It is quite simply a pack of lies with no foundation or truth to them.
“The board will hear from my lawyers for this continued malicious and vicious campaign.”
The Kelty debacle
Still reeling from the relegation, fans were left furious when the club announced it was shifting its training base to Kelty in Fife, 136 miles away.
Another source at Caley Thistle said the deal with Kelty was agreed “before it reached the boardroom table”.
Chairman Ross Morrison disputes that claim and responded to criticism of the move on the Wyness Shuffle fans podcast.
He said that the idea to move the club’s training base had been Gardiner’s.
Morrison also admitted his chief executive’s conduct could be “a bit abrasive”.
When asked by The Press and Journal to sum up Gardiner’s time with Caley Thistle, Morrison said: “Was he perfect? 100% no.
“Are you perfect? I’m not, not a chance, I couldn’t run a football club.
“Scot Gardiner was many things but he was 100% loyal to that club.”
After the Kelty revelation, an emergency meeting was called by the ICT Supporters Trust.
A number of fans said they would be boycotting the club until Gardiner was removed as chief executive.
George Moodie, spokesman for the Supporters Trust, said: “It became really clear to us early on that Scot Gardiner had no interest in a relationship with supporters or with the Supporters Trust.
“His focus was on grand schemes to make money. It was not on any fan-based initiatives that could have added to our regular income.
“In the last few weeks, supporters have been rallying around the club in a way that would have never happened had Scot Gardiner remained in his role.”
Gardiner: ‘I have a fantastic relationship with countless Caley Thistle supporters’
Gardiner said some of the Supporters Trust’s “noisy” members were “beyond working with”.
But he said he was interested in Caley Thistle fans and he would not have been “putting tens of thousands of pounds of [his] own money” into the club if he was not.
Gardiner then went on to say the ICT Supporters Trust was “nowhere near the calibre or dynamism of Hearts or Dundee”.
He added: “I have a fantastic relationship with a countless number of ICT supporters.
“It must be the first Supporters Trust committee of any club in the world, who after hearing that after myself and Ross Morrison had resigned and that the club had consulted an insolvency practitioner, then issued a statement claiming they wanted all fans NOT TO BUY SEASON TICKETS OR ANY MERCHANDISE??
“Effectively starving a club in crisis of funds. And sadly the crowds have not increased by any noticeable difference since they belatedly changed their stance.”
The last Caley Thistle home game before Gardiner left the club was against Dumbarton on August 3.
There were 1,439 fans in attendance.
The first home game after Gardiner left the club was against Montrose on August 17.
There were 1,902 fans in attendance, an increase of 32%.
Part two of this series focuses on Gardiner’s relationship with players and staff.
The story also covers the failed takeover bid of Ketan Makwana.
Part three covers Caley Thistle’s attempts to secure revenue streams outside of football.
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