THE chief executive of Scottish Squash has denied the sport is in turmoil in spite of an extraordinary sequence of sackings that have seen all bar one of the organisation’s non-coaching staff depart in the past season.
Accusations of mismanagement have been made by several of those who have lost their jobs, but Maggie Still, who took charge of the governing body last year, has refuted a string of claims.
Problems first emerged two years ago when Roger Flynn, their globally respected head coach, returned to his native Australia angry at the way his exit had been handled, claiming a “toxic” environment had been created by chairman Jim Hay, adding he believed the organisation had become “a puppet for sportscotland… complying with policies rather than growing the sport”.
The most recent batch of sackings, which saw the removal of three staff – all of whom were initially brought into the organisation by different chief executives – has meanwhile led to detailed criticisms by Vicky Fairbairn, the longest standing of the departees who spent six years as its book-keeper.
Listing a series of concerns she claimed that Still’s management style is “sloppy” and that the chief executive has no idea who is spending money on Scottish Squash’s behalf.
HeraldSport put those accusations to Still who indicated she has no concerns, saying: “Scottish Squash are fully committed to doing all that we can to help the sport and the players develop.We are making considerable progress on our goals to improve performance on the world stage – which includes having men’s doubles world champions Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban – and to encourage more people to play squash.
“We successfully completed a recent independent audit of our governance structures which demonstrated significant improvements have been made over the past two years.
“Sportscotland has made it clear to us they are pleased with the progress we are making as a governing body in terms of governance, performance and membership numbers.”
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