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Why do football managers rarely claim for unfair dismissal?

As the seasons have rolled on, managerial sackings have become ever more common. Once a nuclear o...



Why do football managers rarel...
Soccer

Why do football managers rarely claim for unfair dismissal?

As the seasons have rolled on, managerial sackings have become ever more common.

Once a nuclear option, now it's a button that is pressed regularly in the Premier League at the quickest sign of trouble.

But how well-protected are managers in those situations? And what about the possibility of a managerial transfer window?

On this week's Team 33, sports lawyer Andy Boyde from Blacks Solicitors in Leeds discussed both of those topics with us.

But he also discussed why manager's rarely contest their sackings?

"It is quite rare for an unfair dismissal claim for football managers and that's for three reasons. The first one is continuity of service, which means you need to have two years of continuous service to bring such a claim," he explains.

"Just put that into perspective with the average tenure of a manager across the leagues in England. In the Premier League it's 1.8 years, and in the Championship as little as 0.86 years. League One is 1.4 years and League 2 is 1.44 years, so of all those averages, not in one of those leagues could a manager bring a claim with having two years service.

"Also the amount of money is the lesser of a year's salary or the statutory maximum and that's currently £78,962 (€93,000). So there are a lot of managers in the Premier League and obviously they're on multi-million pound contracts, it's just not simply fit for purpose.

"And then finally, it's the privacy element. The clubs and the managers don't want to air their dirty laundry. So in reality, it's very rare for a manager to bring an unfair dismissal claim through the employment tribunal."   

Boyde also discussed the possibility of a transfer window and how that would impact contracts and other matters.

You can listen to the full interview on the podcast player or stream for free on iTunes where our Alan Curbishley interview referenced in the piece can also be found:

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