Duncan Grabs GH¢34,250 Severance Package

Accra Hearts of Oak last Wednesday redeemed half of their indebtedness to former coach, David Duncan, as the club took bold steps towards settlement of a long running case of unlawful dismissal which dates back to January when the coach won a landmark case to claim compensation.

The Status Committee of the Ghana Football Association declared that Duncan was illegally dismissed and ordered Hearts to pay him a severance package of GH¢86,500.

After a long drawn battle which saw the Phobians twice losing appeals against the ruling, the club on Wednesday paid the coach GH¢34,250 which represents the first installment of their revised indebtedness of GH¢68,501.

Duncan's legal representative, Amoah Larbi, confirmed to the Graphic Sports yesterday that his client had received the first installment from Hearts who were given a discount of GH¢20,999 by the coach after negotiations.

'After they [Hearts] lost both appeals they were ordered to pay a further GH¢3,000 which raised the amount to GH¢89,500. They pleaded for time to pay and after tripartite negotiations brokered by Mr Amarkai Amarteifio we gave them a GH¢20,999 discount,' Mr Larbi said.

'They were supposed to pay the discounted amount of GH¢68,501 in full by September 5, but they displayed signs of intransigence until they brought a cheque for GH¢34,250 that failed to clear last week and was returned to them.'

Mr Larbi said his client was this week presented with a cheque for half the amount which cleared, and was further demanding a post-dated cheque for the remaining amount by the end of the week.

'Since this process began, Hearts have shown that they cannot be trusted so we are demanding a post-dated cheque that will clear on October 15.'

The legal practitioner also disclosed that although his client started supervising training sessions with Accra Great Olympics at their Nungua Town Park base last week, he was yet to formally sign a contract.

An official of Olympics explained that Coach Duncan had agreed in principle to handle the club pending the signing of a formal contract.