Royals Contract Issues

Wow - this is more like a soap opera than a basketball team - Royalenders anyone ?

I am lost with all of this. Royals have 2 guys under contract. They've picked up guys like lawrence and saunders so muet be paying them well. All a bit weird.

I imagine this is with their lawyers. I don't think it takes a genius to work out what's happened. Given the incredible size of their contracts (the better paid of the pair is comfortably the highest paid BBL player ever) it's easy to see how this has happened. 

I can't think of any other situation. Obviously it would be wrong to cast aspersions but clubs have been known to refuse to release players until they've agreed to write off unpaid wages.

Again, I suspect you’re right, but you’d have thought such a situation would cause some bad blood between the team and such players, which is why I find it weird that MBA and Hamilton were in the crowd on Saturday.

And Hamilton publicly responding saying he’s still under contact with them for 2 years seems to suggest there’s some negotiation going on rather than them both just working out the terms of an exit. 

I reckon you are spot on here; so as not to have reneged on the contract themselves.

It then gets referred to an industrial tribunal, which awards against the club, the club doesn't pay the settlement and the bailiffs have to be sent in if the claimant can be bothered, which of course the club is expecting to happen.

Bit of a sweeping statement. It may be fair in relation to Royals - I don’t know - but isn’t something I would tarnish the whole league with.

If if you speak to some players who have played in “bigger” leagues you will be amazed at what goes on. Certainly Newcastle is run very professionally. From afar Leicester looks similar. Maybe others too.

Looks to me as though they signed last year on very favorable multi-year contracts and the new management is having to deal with the consequences. I have heard on the grapevine that at least one of them is on a higher salary than when he was playing in Europe. Can’t blame the players.

3,000 posts!

Technically if Royals didn’t want to pay them anymore they could just sack them. 

For an unfair dismissal claim you have to be working continuously in a job for 2 years. They haven’t.

Theres no way they could just rock up at a tribunal given the current state of play. If they’ve carried out work they’ve not been paid for that’s different.

Justin Robinson has played all over Europe, and encountered numerous contract/salary issues. He actually states his London Lions contract is one of the most solid he’s ever had (and is perhaps why he hasn’t moved across to Royals for potentially more money).

I think there are different issues for the two players. I had heard that MBA was actively looking for another BBL team over the summer(how absolutely accurate that is I don't know), therefore he must have known he wouldn't be back at Royals and is likely to be waiting final payment for last season. I also doubt he'll find anyone in the BBL will pay him remotely close to what he got last season. Despite his seeming lack of team play at times for Royals, I'd take him at Lions, I think Justin could control some of MBA's more selfish tendencies & he'd be a massive plus on our roster.

I've not heard that Hamilton was looking anywhere else, so I'm guessing he thought he'd be back & Royals are trying to renege on any deal.

I'm slightly confused by Bigz comments, surely you can't sack someone just because you don't want them to play for you anymore, otherwise any contract is pointless for the 1st 2 years.