While Massimo Cellino was busy dodging her latest tribunal hearing, Lucy Ward revealed that the club had offered to re-instate her, and why she turned them down.
At an earlier hearing an employment tribunal found that Ward had been unfairly dismissed, with the judge ruling that Cellino had instructed that she should be sacked, and that she had been the victim of sex discrimination. Ward successfully argued that she had been forced out because she was the partner of Neil Redfearn.
Today the court re-convened to decide on the level of compensation. Cellino was supposed to be there to give further evidence, but decided to give it a miss, and according to his barrister, Lucy Bairstow this was because of the amount of media interest in the case.
"When he came to building he observed the number of press who had attended again in relation to the hearing and he felt unable to give evidence. He was very concerned about all the press attention and effectively, but for the press attendance, would be sitting in here know. He has left the tribunal building. In those circumstance I would simply ask you to tender his statement in evidence.”
Once the hearing had begun it emerged that Cellino had offered to re-instate her, in a letter that apologised for mistakes made by the club. But Ward turned the offer down, as she thought that the apology was "damage limitation" rather than a genuine expression of regret. "It's a toxic environment in there now, I don't think anyone could seriously expect me to go back. He knew what he was putting me through."
It’s disappointing hear this, but since Cellino has been in charge there have been a number of former employees who have made similar comments about the state of the club behind the scenes. This comes at a time when we should be optimistic about the coming season after the appointment of a bright young head coach, but we still have to fear that Garry Monk will be undermined by events off the field.
By all accounts Monk has impressed the playing staff by the way he has gone about his job since he was appointed, but clearly the same cannot be said about the man at the very top. In seems that we need to have one more change in a senior position before the club can really move forward.