Carr row rumbles on

  • by Staff Writer
  • Wednesday, 27th July 2016

West Ham United FC have released a statement regarding Tony Carr's departure from the club.

The club posted their account shortly after 5pm this evening (Wednesday), nearly 24 hours after the initial brouhaha regarding Carr's exit was made public by the Mail Online.

"West Ham United can confirm that Tony Carr has left the Club with immediate effect after his two-year contract as Club Ambassador came to an end," read the statement.

"Tony took on the role of Ambassador after departing his long-term position as Academy Director, with both the Club and Tony wanting to ensure that he retained a full-time position and salary beyond his 65th birthday, before beginning to receive his pension."

"As a gesture of gratitude for the outstanding service Tony has given the Club, the current owners of West Ham United granted him a Testimonial match at The Boleyn Ground and Tony retained all profits from this game."

"Tony was offered new terms this summer to continue his Ambassadorial role on a part-time basis, however, he declined the opportunity."

Later, following criticism of the Board throughout the day, the son of co-owner David Sullivan took to his brother's website, the West Ham Way, to reveal further details behind Carr's departure.

And he insisted that the lack of players emerging from the Academy in recent seasons was uppermost in the Board's mind when making the decision to part company with Carr.

"We have respected Tony Carr as a great servant for the last 43 years and I personally am very sad he has felt the need to go the press about what is essentially his retirement," wrote Sullivan.

"Tony has earned over £1.6million since 2005. Many fans are not aware of this figure and I think it is hard to argue that this isn’t a fair wage and that he was not underpaid.

"Nothing had come out of the Academy since James Tomkins made his debut in 2008 and was the last Academy player to get into and maintain a place in the first team. This left six years between 2008 and 2014 where Tony unfortunately brought no players through.

"Much like in any job or career the past has to be ignored and what becomes important is the future and it was clear a change had to be made."

However that didn't go down particularly well with a number of supporters - whilst a KUMB source, speaking on behalf of Carr, reiterated his message that salary and remuneration were not the issue.

"TC spoke to the press as he felt that he had been mistreated. He waited in limbo for almost a month for the Board to reply [to his personal phone calls], only to find out by letter that the redundancy was all they were going to offer.

"Having been there 43 years and some , i think he was hurt and upset that it was going to end that way. He did not want it to end as he feels he still has a lot to give on a part time basis (coaching and scouting) and was a difficult pill to swallow that the current owners obviously thought very differently.

"I would also point out West Ham sold Anton Ferdinand for £8m in 2008 and during the years 2008-14 we had Freddie Sears, Junior Stanislas and Jack Collison along with our current captain Mark Noble and James Tomkins.

"It would be interesting to see how Sullivan Jnr would value Mark Noble's contribution to the first team between 2008-14 in monetary terms.

"But to stress, it's not about the money or even the job. Tony was the last true link to the Lyall and Greenwood days; he was coached by them and trained by them.

"For it to end in such a manner after 43 years and all the undoubted achievements he has had with West Ham was soul destroying for him."

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