Blackburn Rovers have lost the High Court case over former manager Henning Berg. They have been ordered to pay out his £2.25m two-and-a-half year contract in full which means a further payment of £843,000 net.
Blackburn Rovers have lost the High Court case over former manager Henning Berg. They have been ordered to pay out his £2.25m two-and-a-half year contract in full which means a further payment of £843,000 net.
Judge Mark Pilling found that the case put forward by Rovers was ‘not realistically arguable’ which is strong language in legal terms. The Rovers legal team immediately asked for leave to appeal, suggesting that the judge’s decision was legally flawed.
The judge, who had shown considerable exasperation with the way in which Rovers had conducted themselves during the hearing, dismissed that request. The club can take the matter to the Court of Appeal, but only on a point of law.
One might think that this latest setback would bring home to the owners of Rovers that their management of the club has serious shortcomings, to put it mildly. Whether they can learn from their experiences is, however, open to question.
Ideally, they should bring in some non-executive directors with relevant experience and also engage with the club’s Supporters’ Trust who have offered to do all they can to help in return for a share in the decision-making.
It is unlikely that Venky’s would sell the club in the near future as they could only do so by incurring a serious loss on their investment. This loss is, of course, largely a result of their mismanagement. Running a successful conglomerate in India is a different challenge from managing an English football club.