A barmy game where being sacked is the most profitable way to leave your job

Football Food For Thought / Frank Gregan / 12 September 2008 / Leave a Comment

As a man who has been sacked by a football club himself, Frank Gregan can give us good insight into the definitions of resigning, leaving by mutual consent and being sacked. And which of the three did Keegan's exit come under?

Football is full of euphemisms and key phrases and a multitude of them are rolled out when a manager leaves a club. The sack is an occupational hazard for any football manager and those who take little interest in the game have great difficulty understanding the mechanics of how a football termination takes place.

Those not interested in football are incredibly suspicious when you explain that you have been sacked. The first time it happened to me, I went for a week's holiday in the Canaries before taking up a post at Manchester City and my wife and daughter befriended a young Scottish couple who looked at me as if I were the Yorkshire Ripper when I said I was taking a short break after having been fired.

A few nights later they explained that they thought that I must have either been caught stealing or head-butted the chairman. In most walks of life, the sack is the result of gross misconduct or persistent infringements resulting in three written warnings and a series of disciplinary meetings. In football the sack comes after three bad results and half a dozen derogatory phone calls to 6-0-6!

The terminology in relation to the parting of the ways is very important. 'Sacked' - booted out and eligible for full compensation. 'Mutual Consent' - being as jarred off with the situation as everyone else and grateful for the exit package and the chance to take up a post elsewhere. 'Resigned' - fed up to the back teeth of the false expectations in relation to the miserly resources and the constant interference from those that wouldn't recognise a decent player if they bit them on the backside!

Keegan resigned. There was apparently a £2 million clause for breach of contract either way that the club are now likely to seek as compensation. Keegan and his legal team will counter claim and go down the path of constructive dismissal. All of this incredibly stained washing will be displayed in public and the club will once again be the source of amusement for football fans everywhere. The only people enjoying this will be the lawyers, Sunderland fans and the mobile phone companies making a packet on all the Geordie jokes doing the rounds as texts.

King Kev is a hero of mine. I worked very briefly for him at Man City (although in truth most my dealings whilst there were with Arthur Cox), but some of my best football memories are of Keegan in the black and white shirt. He is passionate, ambitious and principled. Given the working conditions that he was subjected to, he had no option but to leave his post with his head held high and the vast majority of Toon supporters very much on his side.

He had said that he wanted supporters to judge him after the transfer deadline past. It was clear to everyone when Xisco and Gonzalez were his only signings on deadline day that he had not received the backing he so fervently desired. The club is now in total turmoil with most supporters hoping that it is not a new manager that is found but a new chairman.

Gus Poyet heads the market to be the next gaffer at odds of [2.62], although he has been traded as short as [1.72.] He is the former assistant manager of Swindon and Leeds where he was number two to Dennis Wise. I had dealings with Gus a couple of years back when I took a Uruguayan winger on loan from Swindon and my assistant manager left to link up with the management team at Swindon. A couple of years later he is favourite for the Newcastle job. This game really is barmy!