Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

RAB DOUGLAS: My dealings with Scot Gardiner at Dundee weren’t pleasant…I’m not surprised he appeared to be spearheading ‘no’ campaign

Scot Gardiner is chief executive at Inverness Caley Thistle
Scot Gardiner is chief executive at Inverness Caley Thistle

What a week it’s been for Scottish football.

I want to say congratulations to Dundee United on winning the Championship. I’m a Dundee man but United are worthy of their title.

Well done to Robbie Neilson and his backroom team, and I also want to mention Lawrence Shankland who has been outstanding.

At Arbroath, we could have still been relegated and we could have made the play-offs. It’s slightly disappointing that the campaign’s over.

Fans across the country might feel short-changed and I feel sorry for them.

But what’s happening right now is bigger than football. I’ve been in the game 25 years now and it’s the first time I’ve ever known anything like this.

United were really consistent right up until the final quarter of the season.

I know the challenge that faces you at that stage – last season we led the league for the whole campaign and it got tougher and tougher near the end.

We were 16 points clear at one stage and the gap finished up at seven. It’s not easy being in the lead.

Yesterday’s events were unusual to say the least, with Dundee at the centre of it.

As fans, we’ve got to sit tight and let John Nelms have his say on the last week or so and I’m certain that he will have pushed for what is best for the club.

He could have been given some guarantees about reconstruction and if it’s decided that a couple of other sides are going into the top flight, Dundee will be in good position. It’s over to the SPFL now as far as that’s concerned.

Nelms and Tim Keyes have put money into the club and taken a hit over the years. I’m certain they have Dundee’s best interests at heart.

There’s been a lot said and written about their approach to this situation and, one thing’s for sure, nobody really knows them.

Rab Douglas urged Dundee fans to trust John Nelms
Rab Douglas urged Dundee fans to trust John Nelms

You hardly ever see them in the paper, they just get on with it. They take their losses and continue to back their club.

A couple of things haven’t sat right with me since last Friday’s vote. I just didn’t understand the wee WhatsApp group chats that were going on.

Chairmen and chief executives should look after the interests of their own clubs first and foremost and you should be able to expect that your vote will remain private until they’ve all been cast.

That didn’t happen and it’s been a bit strange.

On Saturday, the Inverness Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner was in the middle of it all on BBC show Sportsound. That didn’t surprise me. I didn’t like how it all played out.

I had dealings with Scot Gardiner at Dundee, where he held the same position.

I think one of my emails to him years ago must have hit the famous firewall as well. I remember being at a function and telling one of the directors that I’d been trying to get hold of him all week.

The director tipped him off and suddenly, when he showed up at the function, the email came through.

I wasn’t allowed to train at that point after a fallout with John Brown. My dealings with Scot Gardiner weren’t pleasant.

When I fell out with Brown, he certainly wasn’t concerned about the welfare of Rab Douglas.

I’m not surprised he appeared to be spearheading the ‘no’ campaign.


It was great to read that Sir Kenny Dalglish is on the mend at home after testing positive for Covid-19 in hospital.

I’m a big Liverpool fan and Sir Kenny was my all-time hero growing up. He was a great player and remains an inspirational figure in football.

I was star-struck when I met him years ago. I was at Leicester at the time and I was amazed he knew my name.