PHIL Gartside said the first time he heard of the agent suing him for cutting him out of a transfer was when he received a spate of “abusive” text messages.

Angry at the perceived snub, Mr McGill, pictured, sent the Wanderers chairman messages on June 9, June 11, June 15 and June 16 outlining his grievances.

Mr Gartside said he passed the matter on to club secretary Simon Marland to deal with and said he “refused to respond” rather than ignored them.

Mr McGill’s lawyer Martin Budworth put it to Mr Gartside that he had plenty of opportunity to intervene in the transfer before it was ratified by the FA on June 15, especially given the Wanderers chairman’s previous statement that a Panorama documentary had left him “paranoid” of agency activity.

Mr Gartside admitted he could have intervened but chose not to.

The court also heard how Mr McGill made a 52-second phone call to Mr Gartside on June 7 at 9.40pm, the day before Mr McCann’s medical.

Mr Gartside said he makes a point of not answering calls from unknown numbers.