Steve Kean 'forced to resign' as Blackburn Rovers manager
Steve Kean says he was forced to resign as manager of Blackburn Rovers on Friday, leaving with immediate effect, saying his position had become "untenable’.
Kean became manager in December 2010 and has faced fierce supporter protests for much of his reign at Ewood Park. His record of Won 21, drew 16 and lost 37 of his 74 matches in charge saw Rovers relegated in May, ending the club's 11-year stay in the Premier League. Blackburn are the only former Premier League champions to have been relegated – a feat they have achieved twice – in 1999 and 2012.
Blackburn owners Venky's held talks during the week with Kean, and Kean said earlier on Friday that he believed the talks had been "positive and constructive".
The statement, which was issued through Kean's lawyers on Friday, said: "For reasons that I cannot discuss on legal advice, it is with deep regret, given my hard work and service for the club for a number of years, that I have been forced to resign as manager of Blackburn Rovers Football Club with immediate effect, due to my position as team manager becoming untenable”.
Steve Kean must have known the end was coming. For too long the joke has been on Blackburn and their owners, poultry giant Venky's. Chickens came home to roost, the manager was in a flap - fowl play was never far away. Many Blackburn supporters have held protests against Kean for much of his 21-month reign, but he had continued to retain the backing of Indian owners Venky's.
Rovers managing director Derek Shaw insisted he knew "nothing" about Kean's departure immediately after the release of his statement, a sign that not everybody is united in the boardroom.
A fans' boycott has led to attendances at Ewood falling significantly, with the 13,405 crowd against Middlesbrough more than 9,000 down on their average crowds in the Premier League last season.
Perhaps Kean now has a sense of relief. Even when they were winning the fans were chanting '2-0 and we want Kean out', even in his worst nightmares he could never have imagined the furious and personal protests that have been part of his life for the past 18 months.
On the night when defeat by Wigan confirmed Blackburn's drop into the Championship, a live chicken, decked in blue and white, was thrown on to the pitch. It was a moment that captured the feeling of mutiny and ridicule in the stands. The fans had come to oust their embattled manager and send a message to the owners.
Venky's watched proceedings from the Indian city of Pune. The situation had become far worse than they had realised. Kean was summoned to a heated post-season debrief and asked to explain why he had failed to keep the squad in the Premier League. His position was reviewed and questioned. Guarantees and promises were made. But he survived.
And yet something had changed. The appointment of Shebby Singh as Blackburn's global adviser brought a greater attention to detail and scrutiny of Kean and his methods. The manager was told he must win 16 points from the first seven league games to guarantee his job. When he fell two points short, a decision was made.
Kian's message to fans following his sudden resignation has all the hallmarks of a future claim for constructive dismissal against his employer.
Constructive dismissal is the term used to describe a situation where an employee resigns “in circumstances such that he is entitled to terminate his contract without notice by reason of the employer’s conduct.” Here, Kean may seek to argue that his employer’s conduct in taking over the picking of the team players on Friday was a “repudiatory breach of contract” with Kean’s resulting resignation being ranked instead as a dismissal. By resigning on the spot Kean has in effect accepted the repudiation of his contract by his employer. In short, Kean’s contract has been brought to an end and his employer is regarded as having caused it.
A smart move by Kean and his lawyers. Damages that a constructive dismissal claim may bring could be bigger than his pay-off to resign and, if Kean has in fact constructively dismissed himself, his employer will no longer be able to enforce any terms contained in his contract, including any “post-termination” restrictive covenants.
Without a strict non-disclosure agreement in place Kean has the potential to seriously damage the Venkeys with a tell-all press or publishing deal. It is quite possible that Kean could vindicate himself to the football world by exposing a behind-the-scenes look at the Venkeys. Time will tell.
However, for Kean to bring a claim for constructive dismissal, he has some hurdles to jump. His lawyers will have to prove that there was a breach of contract; that the breach was sufficiently important to justify him resigning or the last in a series of incidents which justifies him leaving; he must have left in response to the breach (and not some unconnected reason) and he must not take too long about leaving. Applying the facts of his case, Kean appears to stand a good chance of succeeding with a future claim on this ground.
There is the sense that Kean has turned the tables on his employer. Whilst earlier in the week, he appeared to be being bullied out of position by his employer’s calls for resignation, come Friday, he took matters into his own hands by effectively dismissing himself from his position. Other claims such as harassment may be brought by Kean in the future. However, he may struggle to argue his case for bullying and harassment in light of his comments earlier in the week that talks with his employer had been “positive and constructive.” This somewhat waters down any argument for harassment.
While a constructive dismissal will always be wrongful dismissal it may or may or may not also be unfair dismissal. It is a question of whether Kean’s employer can show his dismissal was for a fair reason. If they cannot do so, the dismissal is unfair. If they can show a fair reason, the question then becomes whether the employer acted reasonably or unreasonably in treating that reason as a sufficient reason for dismissal.