THE former chairman of the committee which used to run Musselburgh Racecourse has defended disciplinary action being taken against the course’s general manager after the latter was accused of giving himself a £9,500-a-year pay rise.

John Caldwell, who chaired Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee (MJRC) during disciplinary action against manager Bill Farnsworth, dismissed claims by Mr Farnsworth that an appeal had “vindicated him” after he was found guilty of misconduct.

And former East Lothian councillor Mr Caldwell launched an attack on the racecourse manager for criticising his employers in public.

Mr Farnsworth was accused of instructing racecourse payroll to give him the pay rise without the support of MJRC – an accusation he denies. He said that the raise was an agreed sum to compensate for him no longer receiving a director’s fee from outside bodies.

But he said that, when the outside fees continued to roll in, he was unable to do anything about overpayments because his salary had been frozen on the orders of Mr Caldwell.

Mr Caldwell insists he has minutes from meetings which show Mr Farnsworth was not given approval for the raise and denies any suggestion he gave any order to freeze the manager’s salary, adding that a decision not to progress a salary review was taken by MJRC.

A disciplinary hearing was held in February last year and it is understood that Mr Farnsworth was found guilty of misconduct and ordered to repay the overpayment.

At a later appeal, Mr Farnsworth said the original hearing was “flawed, unfair and disproportionate” and claimed vindication when it was claimed it found a final written warning was “too harsh”, replacing it with an admonishment.

Mr Farnsworth has now raised a further grievance over the action in a bid to recover more than £20,000 in legal expenses.

Speaking to the Courier this week, Mr Caldwell said he was astonished by the general manager’s view and his decision to speak out.

He said: “It appears the appeal panel replaced the final written warning with an admonishment, which I presume means his appeal was not upheld and he was still found guilty of miconduct.

“An admonishment does not mean you are not guilty.”

Mr Caldwell said he had been surprised to see Mr Farnsworth speaking out at a time when the future of the racecourse was currently in dispute.

Staff at the course have also issued statements in support of their boss Mr Farnsworth.

The latest clash comes after years of wrangling within MJRC, which was made up of four East Lothian councillors and three members of Lothians Racing Syndicate (LRS).

In 2015, Investors In People (IIP) withdrew its endorsement of the facility after branding MJRC leadership dysfunctional.

Last year, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) became so concerned with the running of the popular venue it threatened not to renew the course’s licence unless an independent report into its governance was carried out.

Earlier this year, the council took a tighter grip on the racecourse by replacing MJRC with an associated committee made up of four councillors and two racing experts.

The course’s licence to race expired earlier this month after the moves to tackle management issues failed to impress the BHA.

Talks are taking place in an attempt to find a solution ahead of the course’s next scheduled meeting on May 3.

On Mr Farnsworth, Mr Caldwell said: “It surprises me that a senior employee and the staff have criticised their employers in public.

“It is a shame that the issue of determining how the racecourse should function is being thrown in the public domain, particularly with staff entering the mix.

“There should be no publicity by any of the stakeholders or the staff until the current dispute has been resolved.”

Mr Farnsworth said he repaid £29,000 in overpaid salary as soon as his wages were “unfrozen” and received £42,000 in underpaid salary backdated to April 1, 2015.

John Prideaux, chairman of LRS, said Mr Farnsworth’s pay dispute had no bearing on the current status of the racecourse and alleged the general manager had been forced to defend himself in public after details of the “private and confidential proceedings were leaked by a member of MJRC”.

Mr Prideaux said: “Mr Caldwell’s disastrous tenure as racecourse chairman can best be defined by the indisputable fact that Investors In People stripped the racecourse of the IIP status it had held for 12 years, described his management as ‘dysfunctional’ and said that he ‘would not accept personal responsibility’ for a lack of governance at the racecourse.

"It seems he is still determined to gloss over his many failings as chairman, one of which was to resolve Mr Farnsworth’s salary position as recommended by an independent solicitor.”

And he claimed: “It is no co-incidence that due to the gross mismanagement of the racecourse under Mr Caldwell, and subsequent events, the racecourse is in the highly embarrassing position of having its licence to race withdrawn by the BHA.

“LRS maintains its position that Mr Farnsworth had no case to answer, this fiasco was politically motivated, and the true position is accurately reflected in the recorded minutes of MJRC.”