| Kenny Dalglish I 1999 I 2000 I Celtic Managers |
Dalglish scores £750,000 win over Celtic
The Herald 07/11/2000 Keith Sinclair
CELTIC have conceded that Kenny Dalglish, who is suing the club after being sacked as its director of football in the summer, is entitled to a £750,000 payment in lieu of notice.
A hearing at the Court of Session yesterday was told that the club accepts Dalglish is legally entitled to the money after being summarily dismissed last June. The former Celtic player is suing the club for either £1.2m in damages, including the amount he claims he would have earned in the year following his dismissal and £200,000 of share options; or for £950,000, which includes £750,000 in lieu of notice and the same share option money. His claim also includes £35,000 of pension contributions and £30,000 for payments in relation to his relocation from his previous house in Durham when he returned to Celtic. The hearing, before Lord McFadyen, heard from counsel for Celtic, Roddy Dunlop, that the club accepts that, in terms of Dalglish's employment contract, he was entitled to 12 months' notice of termination or a fixed sum of £750,000 if he was not given this notice. However, although the club agrees he is entitled to £750,000, under deduction of tax, it is denying any liability to pay for share options. The hearing was told that the club accepts he was entitled to pension contributions to be paid during his employment but claims that he did not advise the club of the pension scheme into which the money should be paid. The club is also denying liability to pay any further sums in relation to Dalglish's relocation from Durham, where he lived when he managed Newcastle United. Celtic are counter-claiming £60,000, alleging Dalglish was overpaid regarding his relocation. The case was continued to a hearing on December 15 for parties to adjust their pleadings and so that Dalglish's counsel, Brian Napier, could answer the counter claim.
Dalglish was sacked by Celtic on June 29 after Martin O'Neill was persuaded to leave Leicester City to take over as club manager. Dalglish's dismissal, after a year at the club, followed the sacking of John Barnes as head coach during a disastrous season in which the club finished second to Rangers in the league by a record number of points and were embarrassingly put out of the Scottish Cup by minnows Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Dalglish, who previously played for Celtic, Liverpool and Scotland, also managed Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. He made an £8m claim for unfair dismissal after he was sacked at Newcastle but both parties agreed to an out-of-court settlement, believed to be about £300,000.