Wasn't he sacked and he held back going to Reading as he had a legal case for unfair dismissal (which I guess we're trying to avoid), he then chose to drop the case and take the Reading job.
Re your second para, are you sure? The examples of gardening leave I recall always seems to involve a current employee taking over. I would have thought any approach to a third party could be construed as 'disciplinary action concluded and decision made'.