How much will Mourinho's sacking cost Chelsea?

Jose Mourinho’s dismissal from Chelsea on Thursday is a very different kettle of fish from former first team doctor Eva Carneiro’s departure from the club in September. Carneiro filed a claim for constructive dismissal having been publicly criticised by Mourinho and then demoted following the 2-2 home draw against Swansea at the start of the season.

Mourinho is on a fixed-term contract, and so would not have an Unfair Dismissal claim. Chelsea just need to make sure that they fulfil the contract – if they don’t then Jose may have a claim for “wrongful dismissal”.

The devil is in the detail of his contract – there may be a clause in there suggesting that if he is dismissed for poor performance, then only a maximum of one season’s salary is payable (approximately £7.5 million for Mourinho).

Assuming that there isn’t, and that he has not been fired for misconduct, the starting point is that he will expect to be paid out for the full value of the time remaining on his contract – right up until the summer of 2019, at full salary (Mourinho signed a new four-year contract worth around £30m this summer). Typically, clubs negotiate payment of a lesser amount, but upfront and in one lump sum.

In this case there are two potential flies in Jose’s ointment, though:

1. As with any other employment scenario, if Chelsea have flagged a misconduct issue then they would seek to wriggle. The Carneiro incident is the obvious ace up their sleeve.

We do not know what position the club has taken but if, for example, the employment tribunal were to rule in favour of her discrimination claim, Chelsea would have evidence of gross misconduct on the part of Mourinho – meaning they could fire him without any of the financial penalties. This assumes that they reserved their position, put him on a warning and could not be said to have affirmed his contract.

2. If Jose were to walk into a new job, then any claim for damages would be restricted to his actual loss. If he were to take over Manchester United tomorrow, on the same salary, then arguably he has suffered little or no loss.

In practical terms, managers get a pay-off and pick up their new salary when they leave, but the prospect of future earnings will always be relied upon in any pay-off negotiation. For this reason, you are unlikely to see Jose agreeing to join a new club until the Chelsea cheque is in his bank.

All managers are subject to Rule K arbitration under their contracts and therefore hearings are dealt with by an FA panel comprised of lawyers. Unfortunately, that means any spat between Mourinho and Chelsea is unlikely to play out in public – with disputes and remedies firmly behind closed doors.