Contract law rather than employment law. Sacking isn't really a thing in contract law(it's usually paying off so closer to forced redundancy than sacking). Take AJ, on the face of it he was sacked. But reality is he's either voided his own contract or we paid his contract off and claimed insurance. There is insurance provation against injuries but not sure if Rodders would meet the criteria for a pay out, but playing crap and costing the club a fortune wouldn't not be grounds to rip up his contract i wouldn't have thought. Think @haslam knows a bit about contract law so may be able to correct anything I've got wrong.
Cheers Mate I just can't understand how a player signs as a striker and then scores 1 goal in 40 games, you think are you really a striker sod off you tosser.
Oh yeah, it's unbelievable how some of them rob a living. Contract law in football needs massive reform to bring in a compulsory basic + performance related pay
It's likely to be quite different from what I know as the rules in his contract will be far removed from the norm but I'll act as if they aren't... He's got an employment contract and you'd go down the employment route. There's only really 2 legitimate ways to sack someone and they are competency (they are not good enough to do the job for which they are hired) or capability (they are theoretically able to do the job but can't for some reason - like illness, or they lose their driving licence, etc.) both of which have formal processes which need to be followed (employment contracts have disciplinary procedures in them as a matter of law and if you don't have an actual contract then there are standard terms to be used). In football you could only argue capability if you had a career ending injury, in which case the insurance company would presumably pay off the players contract. With Kone to show incompetency (and it is theoretically possible) you would need to show, as objectively as possible, that he wasn't doing what was asked of him. Is he turning up to training, trying his best, making himself fit for selection, etc? If he is and getting picked for the first team it would be incredibly difficult to argue he was incompetent despite how he might actually play! Note: There is a third rare option of frustration of contract (when someone isn't able to fulfill their commitments as something is stopping them) which Newcastle could, possibly, have claimed with Joey Barton when he was jailed. Most employers don't give a **** about the rules and get away with it as employees just move on. Footballers are too much in the public eye for a club to get away without following the rules.
