Former West Ham manager Alan Curbishley has won his case for wrongful dismissal.
Curbishley - who walked out on the club in September 2008 after claiming that the board has sanctioned the sale of key players against his wishes - told the court how he was undermined by the decision to sell squad members such as George McCartney and Anton Ferdinand.The court agreed that sole authority over player sales should have been Curbishley's - and in agreeing found against West Ham United who now stand to face a bill of several million pounds in damages.
Curbishley, talking on http://www.leaguemanagers.com following the successful outcome of a case that will leave him several million pounds richer but the club in even more dire financial straits, said:
“I am obviously delighted with this result. I very much enjoyed my time at West Ham and never wanted to leave, but on joining the Club I insisted that my contract contained a clause confirming that I would have final say on the selection of players to be transferred to and from the Club.
"The Club completely ignored my contract when selling Anton Ferdinand, and when George McCartney was then sold, the Club having given me assurances that no players would be leaving after the sale of Anton Ferdinand, I had no alternative but to resign.
My authority and integrity were undermined and my position was made untenable. I now wish to put this entire matter behind me. I would like to thank the LMA, my lawyers, Mike Morrison of Hill Dickinson, and Paul Gilroy QC, for all of their support and for the hard work they put in on my behalf in order to help me achieve this outcome”.
League Managers Association Chief Executive Richard Bevan added: “Naturally we are delighted with the outcome for Alan but, at the same time, sorry that he wasn’t able to continue at West Ham United, a club that has played such a prominent part in his professional career both as a player and manager.
"The findings of the Tribunal demonstrate the critical importance of respecting contracts which need to set out the roles and responsibilities of the parties in clear and unequivocal terms."
It has also been revealed that West Ham attempted to counter-sue Curbishley as a result of his walk-out for the costs incurred by hiring a replacement management team (Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke). That plea was rejected by the court; West Ham United are yet to comment.
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