Alan Curbishley has won his case for constructive dismissal against West Ham after claiming he had no option but to resign.
A Premier League manager's arbitration tribunal has upheld Curbishley's claim for wrongful dismissal after he resigned last season following the club's decision to sell Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney to Sunderland against his wishes.
Curbishley said: "I am obviously delighted with this result. I very much enjoyed my time at West Ham and never wanted to leave, but on joining the club I insisted that my contract contained a clause confirming that I would have final say on the selection of players to be transferred to and from the club."
He added: "The club completely ignored my contract when selling Anton Ferdinand, and when George McCartney was then sold, the club having given me assurances that no players would be leaving the club after the sale of Anton Ferdinand, I had no alternative but to resign.
"My authority and integrity were undermined and my position was made untenable. I now wish to put this entire matter behind me."
The tribunal, which dismissed a counter claim from West Ham, will now assess how much compensation the club will have to pay.
Curbishley quit the Hammers at the start of the 2008/09 season and launched his case after which the club launched a counter-claim relating to the cost of employing his successor Gianfranco Zola and his assistant Steve Clarke. The counter-claim has proved unsuccessful.
Richard Bevan, chief executive of the League Managers' Association, said the outcome demonstrated the need for clubs to respect contracts.
Bevan said: "Naturally we are delighted with the outcome for Alan but, at the same time, sorry that he wasn't able to continue at West Ham United, a club that has played such a prominent part in his professional career both as a player and manager.
"The findings of the tribunal demonstrate the critical importance of respecting contracts which need to set out the roles and responsibilities of the parties in clear and unequivocal terms."
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Be it Managers, Players or club owners, none of them have any respect/loyalty to the people who really matter the "supporters" those who attend the games week in week out.
All they are all after is how much money they can make, Players kiss the badge and take the applauses one week, then along comes club A B or C etc. offers them an extra few 00 on their salary and off they go to then kiss that badge. Love football but cannot stand the entire bunch of money grabbing sh.ts.
garylc, you are spot on, Sam,, I am leaving for personal reasons, Allardyce springs to mind as does Redknapp and a few others.
Does respecting contracts go both ways then. I have never heard the League Managers Association leaping to the defence of clubs when a manager jumps ship to what they perceive as a better job, of course they wouldn't. If I were to advise clubs I would be saying its time to pursue all managers who breach their contracts
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