Quote ="bellycouldtackle"Does anyone know what length of contract your coach has. It could be very expensive to sack him. Not sure how contract law works, do you have to pay out the full term etc etc. In these hard times will the board of any company want a bill for say £ 100,000 just to get rid of a member of staff.'"
Er...I have been telling people about that for ages. Still hasn't sunk in with some yet
Its a hypothetical situation, and only the contracting parties and their advisers will know the contractual terms. But its not a case of contract law as such, more a case of what the terms of the contract and the applicable employment law are. I believe he has a contract till the end of this year, so the starting assumption must be that should the board go for the nuclear option then it would cost them something like the remaining amounts due till then. But it would all depend on the detailed terms of the contract and the circumstances of the departure.
Thats in simple terms, cos there are a lot of caveats relating to tax and especially to employment law. In some (non-sports) cases it can cost considerably more than the contractual entitlement to notice etc, if you are facing a claim for wrongful dismissal and/or if you want to impose some conditions on your (ex)-employee which your breach of contract would otherwise prevent. In non-sports situations you invariably get a "Compromise Agreement" in situations like this, where the ex-employee waives any further claims or rights in exchange for a substantial cheque. I've drawn a few of those up in my time.
But I'm not sure how it works in a sports situation, and whether there are any special rules or precedents which apply - or what the precedents are for being able to dismiss someone "fairly". The widely-publicised departure of Millward from Stains and then the Piedome didn't really cast too much light on the subject
But wait till Varky comes on and he'll probably be able to give you chapter and verse.