Ian Evatt

[Sefton Aubergine]

We'll see - they're certainly setting themselves up to fail if the deal collapses.

Well, Yeah!.
Suppose you could say the same for Adam really.

Fluid situation. I'm sure things have changed and what he said at the time will have been the facts as he saw it.

[mall]

Heard first Bolton offer was £25,000 and a pasty barm.

Should have added a couple of kilos of black puddings-that would have tipped it!.

[mall]

Well, Yeah!.
Suppose you could say the same for Adam really.

Fluid situation. I'm sure things have changed and what he said at the time will have been the facts as he saw it.

You're sure?

[David881]

With regard to the compensation for managers in general - I have always wondered why clubs are reluctant to pay high prices for Managers but then will pay huge sums for players (even at league 2 level) that the manager advises them to buy and tells them how to play.

Seems to me that the manager should be as important as the players and that fees for good ones are worth paying.

Probably because there’s not a developed market where managers can be sold on as there is with players.

[spirit of 1990]

I hope the club hold out for what they believe is a fair compensation package (basically the one agreed upon when IE took the improved contract)
Other clubs will be watching this and if they come in for one of our players during the season and know we won’t stick to our guns....

[Sefton Aubergine]

Fluid situation. I'm sure things have changed and what he said at the time will have been the facts as he saw it.

You're sure?

I'm sure I don't feel deceived.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

Simple really, if Evatt is interested in the job, and the 2 clubs cannot agree terms, if he really wants the job, he resigns and let the courts settle it

If only it was that simple

If he resigned and walked away i.m pretty sure Barrow would apply for an injunction which would in effect freeze the situation at that point in time until it reached a full hearing putting not only themselves but Bolton and indeed Evett into a state of complete limbo.

But given how watertight it appears Barrow have made this contract I would imagine there will be provisions within it that would deal with this scenario the most drastic being that he's free to resign his position at HS but not free to sign a contract with another club until after the expiry date of his Barrow contract. And the only way to move on from that would be for him to personally negotiate with Barrow to buy that out and if Barrow were convinced that it was just a ploy to take the BWFC job they would just refuse to do a deal at anything less than the amount in the contract.

I used to work as a senior manager in the leisure/entertainment/holiday industry on 9-month contracts and quite often they contained a clause that prevented you resigning and going to work in a similar position for another company for 6 months to prevent the disruption that losing an entertainments manager midseason would inevitably bring and this appears to be something very similar.

[Stephen Leonard]

Reading between the many many lines of this lot - I suspect they are willing to pay but are disputing the amount - either because they beleive his contract says something different to what Barrow are asking for OR they are simply trying to negotiate. Seems fairly normal practice to me (and I suspect that in football it happens a lot but this is the first time we have seen it first hand)

Without knowing much about financial law or football contracts, i don't see where a dispute would come from? Surely Evatt/his agent has a copy of the contract. If the amount is less, just offer the amount they believe it to be and if it was correct BAFC would have to accept or be in breach of contract themselves?

Given Hornby is a leading accountant and Shearer has overseen multi-million pound deals throughout his career, you'd assume the pair are more than experienced in producing watertight contracts and having full understanding of them...

FWIW I hope we do stick to our guns with it, that's his contract and we don't want him to go so why accept less... If we're going to roll over and be patted on the head by the bigger boys in the league we might as well give up now cos it's gonna be a long season.

Ste i agree It should be clear cut - but I have seen enough Contract disputes to know that ‘interpretations ‘ can vary even on something black and white

I guess it depends on what the clauses say - if it says compensation is £xxx whatever then it’s easy
If however it says it is some sort of formula depending on length of contract remaining - division Barrow are in - Or other factors etc then it could be open to interpretation

Edited due to misreading previous info

[Suffolk Blue]

I too have worked under such clauses NS. Comes under the generic title of Restraint of Trade. Am not sure whether it could legally be upheld in a football context though. If that's in his contract however could well require a lot of argy bargy sorting it out.

Agree with you on the injunction. Dont really see any way for Bolton to proceed without agreeing terms with BAFC first. Though of course according to the Bolton News that's all been taken care of.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

It seems that the compensation has already been agreed, but Barrow and Bolton disputed some of the finer details. I don't believe the Bolton News story entirely, but they aren't making it all up.

"but they aren't making it all up."-
I think they are. There has been a massive slump in the print media due to the virus-people got out of the habit.
The Bolton News knows people are desperate for a bit of good news and is happy to print sh!te to sell papers=profit.

Personally I wouldn't believe a word Iles writes there are a lot of people in Bury who hold him at least partially responsible for how that worked out and it was pretty clear that at the time FV.s were trying to do their deal this time last year they were using him as a mouthpiece to get across what they wanted to get out to a wider audience.

[Suffolk Blue]

Without knowing much about financial law or football contracts, i don't see where a dispute would come from? Surely Evatt/his agent has a copy of the contract. If the amount is less, just offer the amount they believe it to be and if it was correct BAFC would have to accept or be in breach of contract themselves?

Given Hornby is a leading accountant and Shearer has overseen multi-million pound deals throughout his career, you'd assume the pair are more than experienced in producing watertight contracts and having full understanding of them...

FWIW I hope we do stick to our guns with it, that's his contract and we don't want him to go so why accept less... If we're going to roll over and be patted on the head by the bigger boys in the league we might as well give up now cos it's gonna be a long season.

Ste i agree It should be clear cut - but I have seen enough Contract disputes to know that ‘interpretations ‘ can vary even on something black and white

I guess it depends on what the clauses say - if it says compensation is £xxx whatever then it’s easy
If however it says it is some sort of formula depending on length of contract remaining - division Barrow are in - Or other factors etc then it could be open to interpretation

Obviously as the offer has been rejected it means Barrow are confident in their interpretation and now it’s down to Ian Evatt to decide if he wishes to breach his contract by resigning to go to Bolton (who obviously want him and he must have a desire to go otherwise it wouldn’t have got this far) - if he did then it’s over to the lawyers to sort out

Personally I am glad that the owners have rejected it if they don’t feel it is sufficient compensation as it shows the clubs professional approach to things

Let’s see if it is the end of the matter

Sorry. Can somebody clarify. Has there been a rejection of the bid from Bolton in the last couple of hours? If so where has this been reported?

[barrowaberdeen]

The club are being very professional. As they should be.

Knowing our folks a little, I am 100% sure we are confident in the contract.

[NORTHERNSOUL]

I too have worked under such clauses NS. Comes under the generic title of Restraint of Trade. Am not sure whether it could legally be upheld in a football context though. If that's in his contract however could well require a lot of argy bargy sorting it out.

Agree with you on the injunction. Dont really see any way for Bolton to proceed without agreeing terms with BAFC first. Though of course according to the Bolton News that's all been taken care of.

But if that was the case it would be a lot easier for Barrow to move on than for the other two because once it had got that far there would be no going back with Evatt and I would imagine they would just appoint a manager [ who would for a smallish sum ] agree to his title being temporary or interim manager to negate allegations in court that a judge should just dismiss Barrows case as they themselves had in fact already moved on.

[russell_anderson]

This is the legal situation in this case as far as I can see:-

"The manager is under contract with another football club
It is this situation which can cause the most conflict as is often a scenario which comes into play when a club wishes to appoint a highly sought after manager. The small group of real high profile managers will in most instances be employed with a club, so if another club wishes to gain their services they will have to pay the price.

Do clubs have to pay a transfer fee for a manager for a manager who moves clubs in this manner?
If a football player under contract were to move in this manner the clubs would pay a transfer fee – the terms of which will be agreed upon by the two clubs. For a manager to move there is no specific transfer fee but the clubs do have to come to an arrangement.

What kind of arrangement?
The club who gains the services of the manager will be required to pay a fee to compensate the club who is losing the manager. The amount of compensation is a matter which will be agreed between the two clubs.

What is this compensation for?
When the manager leaves the club to which he was originally contracted he will be deemed to have terminated his contract early (a breach of the contract) meaning that the club will need to be compensated for this loss.

What happens if the clubs cannot agree an adequate amount of compensation?
If the manager moves between clubs and the clubs cannot agree on an adequate amount of compensation then due to the early termination of the contract the original club will be able to bring the following claims:
Breach of contract – by the manager
Inducement to breach the contract – by the club obtaining his services
It is likely that both these claims are to be heard by a disciplinary tribunal which will decide on the adequate amount of compensation to be paid."

Unfortunately, history tells you that the disciplinary tribunal generally awards inadequate amounts of compensation which is why clubs tend to negotiate. I think I read on the Bolton board that when they pinched Allardyce from Notts County, County got a ridiculously small sum.
However, whatever we get I still hope the board digs its heels in even if it goes to a tribunal.
Presumably the list of players Ian Evatt had for the situation will now be used for Bolton if he goes other than any which might have cost transfer or loan fees which he will have to cross off!

[Matty]

Not sure if anyone else is feeling the same, but rather than losing our manager my main concern has shifted considerably to ensuring that the club gets what it rightfully requires.