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Manly have claimed victory in their feud with Trent Barrett, with the club avoiding an embarrassing financial settlement by paying him the remainder of his contract to do bugger-all.
Relieved Sea Eagles’ bosses were celebrating yesterday after bringing the saga to a close, with their lawyers declaring the deal a triumph for both the club’s fans and “basic maths.”
After months of public wrangling with Barrett, Manly’s legal team were able to exploit a “little known legal loophole” that allowed them to pay out his contract instead of paying out his contract.
While details of the deal remain secret, it is believed an obscure legality was utilised whereby compensation can be waived when the employee is fully remunerated their pre-agreed dues, or some crap like that.
Manly’s lawyers then creatively added a clause that Barrett would only be paid should he “keep the hell away from the joint, even if chasing Pokemon”, thus ensuring the club “saved face” and “weren’t left out of pocket.”
Insiders say a “defeated” Barrett reluctantly accepted the offer at approximately 2 pm yesterday, right after waking up from earning another $256 per hour to sleep, like most of 2018.
The stunning deal is the Sea Eagles’ latest act of creative financial nous, a skill that has previously earned the club a list of well-paid stars and two salary cap investigations.
Upon Barrett’s acceptance, jubilant officials were claiming victory over the departing coach on a number of petty, nonsensical fronts, with many seen fanning fifty cent coins from their office tents after calculating six months of interest on withheld wages.
But despite the windfall, the club has already budgeted to use the retained funds for much-needed resources, such as the next payout to Des Hasler.
Sea Eagles officials are certain this uneasy truce with Barrett brings the issue to a close, finally allowing the new coach to concentrate on rebuilding the organisation with youth, beginning with Kieran Foran.
As for Barrett, the payout ends a disastrous 2018 that saw him tackling issues like the Gladstone affair, poor form and the salary cap probe.
The coach was the unwanted face of the investigation, even in farcical scenes when the club was asked by investigators to handover laptops and offered Jackson Hastings instead.
(AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
Thankfully, common sense prevailed when both resolved to handover laptops containing Hastings, allowing Barrett to concentrate on his primary duty of finding a way out of the place.
Despite the messy break-up, Barrett claimed there are no hard feelings with his former employer.
He declared he is happy to assist the club with anything in the next six months, provided it can be done remotely from the Maldives.