Will it be a legal ‘red card’ for Blackburn Rovers?
25 March 2013
This week sees the High Court hearing Henning Berg’s claim against his former club, Blackburn Rovers, for unpaid wages.
It follows Michael Appleton’s sacking from his position as manager of the same club last week, after just 67 days in the job. Berg enjoyed a similar fate prior to Appleton, having been sacked in December after 57 days in charge. Blackburn have now had five managers this season alone.
Appleton was sacked by a man he had never met, and without the knowledge of the club’s managing director, Derek Shaw. During his 67 days at Ewood Park, Appleton did not exchange a single word with global advisor Shebby Singh until last Tuesday morning, the day he discovered he was no longer required.
The woes of premiership football managers provide constant fodder for the tabloid media. However this particular sorry tale raises a couple of interesting legal points as well.
Even though Singh is not a statutory director of the club, he would have had ‘ostensible authority’ in Appleton’s eyes to dismiss him, even though the managing director was unaware. By giving Singh the status of ‘global advisor’, the club gave him the ability to commit it to legal obligations. Many companies give senior managers a ‘director’ job title even though they are not legally registered as such at Companies House. By doing so, they give those staff the ability to create legal obligations which can be relied upon by third parties. Those individuals might also inherit the personal legal obligations which are carried by statutory directors.
Neither Berg nor Appleton would have been able to sue the club for unfair dismissal, due to their short period of tenure, even though they were both fired without any prior warning or due process. Berg’s only recourse was to try and recover the unpaid wages which were due to him. Since last April, employees only acquire unfair dismissal protection after two years’ employment. Blackburn has been able to take advantage of this, but has suffered the consequences in terms of adverse publicity.
For more information please contact our employment law team.
Disclaimer: All legal information is correct at the time of publication but please be aware that laws may change over time. This article contains general legal information but should not be relied upon as legal advice. Please seek professional legal advice about your specific situation - contact us; we’d be delighted to help.
Menopause and the workplace continues to be at the forefront of conversation for many businesses. The last 50 years or so has seen the structure of the workplace change dramatically.…
In this free webinar our experienced employment and business immigration lawyers take a look at what’s new in UK employment legislation and the predictions for what the new UK government…
The new Labour government has scrapped the Conservative bill that gives workers the right to request a predictable working pattern, in favour of stronger, more certain working hours. As well…
By clicking Accept you are agreeing to the use of all cookies which will allow us to provide you with the most relevant experience when visiting or re-visiting this website. This means that your personal preferences will be remembered when you use this website. You can change your consent or choose specific settings by clicking "Cookie Settings". By clicking "Reject All" we will not use any non-essential cookies. Essential cookies will still be used for the website to function properly. Please see our cookie policy and privacy notice for more information about how we process your personal data.
Our website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through our website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use our website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies but it may affect your browsing experience on our website. You can find our cookie policy here.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for our website to function and enable core functionality such as security and accessibility. These cookies do not store any personal information. You can block these cookies by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
mgref
1 year
This cookie is set by Eventbrite to deliver content tailored to the end user's interests and improve content creation. It is also used for event-booking purposes.
yt-player-headers-readable
never
The yt-player-headers-readable cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences related to video playback and interface, enhancing the user's viewing experience.
yt-remote-cast-installed
session
The yt-remote-cast-installed cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-fast-check-period
session
The yt-remote-fast-check-period cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences for embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-session-app
session
The yt-remote-session-app cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and information about the interface of the embedded YouTube video player.
yt-remote-session-name
session
The yt-remote-session-name cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.
ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY
never
The cookie ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY is used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
2 years
The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gat
1 minute
This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.
_gid
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
_s
1 year
This cookie is associated with Shopify's analytics suite.
G
1 year
Cookie used to facilitate the translation into the preferred language of the visitor.
vuid
2 years
Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
6 months
YouTube sets this cookie to measure bandwidth, determining whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA
6 months
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain.
YSC
session
Youtube sets this cookie to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.