Roger Flynn arrived in Scottish Squash as a man whose influence was such that he persuaded the global game’s governing body to bring about changes to its rules.

Described by Scotland’s top player Alan Clyne as the best coach in the world game on his return to his native Australia in 2015, the dismay he expressed at that time at how the governing body was being run following the removal from office of John Dunlop, the chief executive with whom he had worked closely, suggested cause for concern.

That impression seemed borne out recently when several employees raised concerns following a staggering clear out in recent months that had seen five of the organisation’s six non-coaching staff removed from their posts.

When HeraldSport consequently invited Maggie Still, the latest chief executive of Scottish Squash, to explain she asked if she could be accompanied in the discussion by board member Bob Easson who had worked closely with Flynn, for whom he claimed to have ‘massive respect.’

Strangely then, when the manner of the former coach’s departure was raised among the litany of charges, Easson claimed to be surprised by my description of Flynn as having been ‘damaged’ by his experience in Scotland. That naturally required further investigation and a message to Flynn drew a lengthy response including the following:

“The work environment under Jim Hay (SSRL Chairman) can only be described as toxic,” he wrote, anger still evident two years on.

“At my first meeting with him after John Dunlop resigned, he demanded a ‘work plan’ (despite him knowing that I worked approximately 60-70 hours per week, 6-7 days per week from 6:30am sometimes until 8:30pm). This pedantism manifested in every aspect of the workplace with the result that no actual work was ever done! The organisation has stumbled and fallen (some would say pushed by Jim Hay) from a positively managed, self-confident and enthusiastic organisation with a clear plan into a puppet of sportscotland, now occupied by public servants who spend their time complying with ‘policies’ rather than growing the sport. My communications with my old (and young) players suggest a ‘blah’ environment with nothing happening other than everyone leaving.

“The bigger issue is how sportscotland manages to infiltrate its ‘Yes Men and Women’ into key positions in sports governing bodies, which then become preoccupied with satisfying a public service approach to sport - bogged down with implementing policies rather than getting out there and getting kids playing sport!”

That provides background to the willingness of most of those who have recently departed the organisation to express similar criticisms, albeit some preferred to do so anonymously, expressing concern about the implications in modern sport for those considered ‘whistleblowers’.

Vicki Fairbairn, the organisation’s long-standing book-keeper ahead of the cull, had no such qualms and, describing her treatment when summarily dismissed as unprecedented in her long career which has seen her work with a wide array of clients, she indicated that she felt she had been removed because she was asking difficult questions.

Her allegations included:

· That one member club that has had its membership fees to Scottish Squash waived because one of its members sponsored a competition

· That a woman, known previously to the CEO, was employed to undertake work for Scottish Squash that the CEO should be doing, while employed by, but officially on sick leave from the organisation at which they previously worked together

· That a Yorkshire-based travel company, which solely works for Scottish Squash, is charging hugely inflated rates to the organisation

· That the CEO is sloppy in her management style and has no idea of who is spending money on behalf of Scottish Squash

· That participation figures are being inflated by doing away with the £1 affiliation fee to encourage more people to declare that they were playing squash so they can now work with an unverifiable estimate of the number of people playing

One of Fairbairn’s former colleagues who wanted to remain anonymous, claimed that “the CEO talked a lot about communication and teamwork, but excluded personnel from meetings and contact with people who were important to them and their roles,” adding that: “the way information is gathered was changed in response to pressure from sportscotland to gather it in a manner driven by targets irrespective of the quality of what it was or how it was gathered and that employees were encouraged to find ways to gather and include information that could not be accurately supported if challenged.

Another of their former colleagues who again wanted to remain anonymous, claimed to have been told privately by the CEO that Still had consequently introduced the recent re-structure specifically to bring about the departure of that aforementioned individual who was raising these questions about communication, teamwork and the nature of information gathering.

Tellingly the most recent batch of departures involved three people - Fairbairn, Vincent Bryson, recruited as operations manager just a few weeks earlier and Lisa McKenna – who were recruited by different CEOs.