Nick Szczepanik Tweets Poyet hearing Monday now!

[rusty redeyes]

Maybe be totally different here, but whenever we have scheduled a hearing we check holidays etc and give a date in writing a set number of days hence, usually seven, and ask the other party to confirm okay etc. How do we get to the stage that the meeting was set for today only to be changed at the last minute?
Not great from one of the parties whatever way you look at it.

Charlies holiday was booked before the end of the season, and I can't see that he would have had to inform anyone of his movements in the close season.

 

[Dawn Korus]

Gus and Charlie were told by text on Weds that the club weren't yet in a position to make them an offer, hence the delay until Monday. Gus and Charlie are still both away. I'll probably be accused of being an attention seeker again but heyho do I care!

So when you say 'offer' is it right to presume payoff?

 

[rusty redeyes]

What do you mean by an offer they are under contract.

They are, at present, but if the alleged charges don't stack up or all or some of them can't be proved then some form of negotiation might have occurred as their positions might be considered untenable and the club would want to then release/sack them, subject to a potential pay-off suitable to all concerned. That "offer" might take time to organise

 

[rusty redeyes]

So when you say 'offer' is it right to presume payoff?

I don't know, sorry.

 

[Bra]

They are, at present, but if the alleged charges don't stack up or all or some of them can't be proved then some form of negotiation might have occurred as their positions might be considered untenable and the club would want to then release/sack them, subject to a potential pay-off suitable to all concerned. That "offer" might take time to organise

Can see to a degree what you are saying, but not how it was handled with tanno. Why do it differently?

 

[JamesAndTheGiantHead]

Can't we just break up with him over the phone, like you would a girlfriend?

 

[Hungry Joe]

Can't we just break up with him over the phone, like you would a girlfriend?

by text - UR dumped 4eva

 

[Dawn Korus]

by text - UR dumped 4eva

Who's Eva?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Not a joke Club - yet, if at all. Yes we could have done the obvious thing and just sacked Gus etc without bothering to investigate the allegations and then worry about the consequences later. But potentially now we'd be a couple of £m worse having to pay him compensation or dragging us through an unfair dismissal claim . I don't know exactly what sort of figure he would take us for but that's a hell of a dent in a transfer budget for new manager. Also put it in the context of the 18 redundancies. The number of jobs lost could easily double if we just roll over and give Gus £2m.

Do you really want to gift such a big chunk of everyone's ST money into Gus's bank account when he is no longer anything to do with us? I for one am pleased that The Albion have had the balls to do this properly. Ok it has dragged on which is frustrating for us all not least because both sides have (rightly) managed to keep a lid on the details.

But hopefully at the end of the disciplinary process there will be absolutely no doubt as to the outcome. The timescale suggests it was not a straightforward matter to investigate, gather evidence, interview people and prepare the legal side of things. Unlike workplace disputes that most of us NSCers might encounter and dealt with by HR, this is not your average workplace, the people involved have very high public profiles, their professional reputations and future prospects may be at stake, the financial implications may be very significant, sponsors will be sensitive to the findings and no doubt there are very expensive lawyers at work on both sides. You haven't heard the League Managers Association complaining about the Albion dragging their heels so suggest they recognise that the process has to take its course.

With The Albion having suspended Gus and told him not to have any contact with the Club then presumably the Club would have to give him reasonable notice of a hearing date. His lawyers would ask for reasonable time to consider his defence. I think most people would wish to have an opportunity to give their side of things in person. If Gus is currently on a pre-arranged commitment that is one thing but if he has elected to be awkward then he won't help his case.

If this process saves us a huge chunk of money that all of us would rather spend on footie matters, then so be it.

I do agree that we could look bad if Gus is reinstated because I wouldn't like to predict how he would handle that. Badly, I suspect.

Great post.

 

[les dynam]

Shambles. Whoever decided to act all Mr Tough Guy at the club and impose the suspensions is a complete moron. Gus wanted to leave anyway, so let him walk away or sack him if needs be. Does anybody really think Gus gives too hoots about this comedy suspension? He has all of the power in this, he's the one who's in demand.

To me, it feels like The Albion have gone from being a friendly relaxed sort of club to one that feel like it's permanently waging war with somebody or something in just a few short season. Am i the only one who feel this way?

 

[Hungry Joe]

Am i the only one who feel this way?

Probably.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

So when you say 'offer' is it right to presume payoff?

Could be a new 4-year contract for all anybody knows !! Or a coffee.

 

[Pavilionaire]

People say contracts in football are not worth the paper they're written on. This would certainly seem to be the case from the club's point of view. Gus happily signed a 5-year deal guaranteeing him income in the eventuality the club were to sack him if results were poor. The club mitigated their risk by inserting the compensation clause for £2.5mill. Yet Gus seems to be holding all the aces.

Management jobs always come up, if he should miss the boat this summer he's only got to wait until October when no doubt two or three of Norwich / Fulham / Sunderland / West Ham / Newcastle will be getting twitchy. The same will apply in La Liga. Plenty of jobs, plenty of golf. Meanwhile, the Albion can kiss goodbye to that £2.5million, baulk at the legal fees currently being racked up and despair as potential signings disappear one by one.

 

[Rugrat]

Does anybody really think Gus gives too hoots about this comedy suspension? He has all of the power in this, he's the one who's in demand.

Did I miss something while away?

 

[Creaky]

If both GP and the club are playing 'hardball' - i.e. GP won't quit and the club won't pay off his contract - then this could drag on for months, not weeks, irrespective of how justified the club may or may not be in imposing the suspension.

It is contract law that is relevant in this case, not employment law per se, and if the suspension could be shown to have been unjustified could cost the club far more than just the outstanding value of the contract.

 

[Easy 10]

Shambles. Whoever decided to act all Mr Tough Guy at the club and impose the suspensions is a complete moron. Gus wanted to leave anyway, so let him walk away or sack him if needs be. Does anybody really think Gus gives too hoots about this comedy suspension? He has all of the power in this, he's the one who's in demand.

To me, it feels like The Albion have gone from being a friendly relaxed sort of club to one that feel like it's permanently waging war with somebody or something in just a few short season. Am i the only one who feel this way?

If we sack him, then unless it was for gross misconduct, we'd have to pay him off - and as he still has about 2 and a half years left on his current deal, that would be a substantial amount of money. This is presumably, (as nobody really knows), the rub, and why it is taking forever, while the lawyers pick over whether he has breached his contract.

If we simply let him walk away, if we just tear up his contract and let him mince off to join another club, then TB is writing off about £2.5m in compensation we should be receiving if another club poached him.

In either scenario, the club is loses out. TB is going through due process - thats not being a moron, thats protecting his and the clubs best interests.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

I am off on Holiday Sunday so dont care, two weeks of bliss....

I wonder what the odds are when I get back it still aint sorted ?

 

[Forster's Armband]

Shambles. Whoever decided to act all Mr Tough Guy at the club and impose the suspensions is a complete moron. Gus wanted to leave anyway, so let him walk away or sack him if needs be. Does anybody really think Gus gives too hoots about this comedy suspension? He has all of the power in this, he's the one who's in demand.

To me, it feels like The Albion have gone from being a friendly relaxed sort of club to one that feel like it's permanently waging war with somebody or something in just a few short season. Am i the only one who feel this way?

Yes he's really in demand........jobs that have passed him by this summer (so far)

Stoke
Everton
Wigan
Man City (I include this as Gus clearly thinks he's good enough)
Chelsea (I include this as Gus clearly thinks he's good enough)
Man United (I include this as Gus clearly thinks he's good enough)
Malaga
Zaragoza
Wolves

Not to mention numerous ones abroad. The club are deal with the situation as they see fit. You have no clue whats going on like the rest of us.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

The Times Newspaper.

and North Stand Chat of course, a superior news outlet...

 

[Creaky]

If we sack him, then unless it was for gross misconduct, we'd have to pay him off - and as he still has about 2 and a half years left on his current deal, that would be a substantial amount of money. This is presumably, (as nobody really knows), the rub, and why it is taking forever, while the lawyers pick over whether he has breached his contract.

If we simply let him walk away, if we just tear up his contract and let him mince off to join another club, then TB is writing off about £2.5m in compensation we should be receiving if another club poached him.

In either scenario, the club is loses out. TB is going through due process - thats not being a moron, thats protecting his and the clubs best interests.

Well if there wasn't a clearly demonstrable case of "gross misconduct" or some other clear breach of contract then the suspensions make no sense unless legal advice wasn't taken before the suspensions were imposed.