Paul Jewell to take legal advice over sudden departure from West Brom

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/14/paul-jewell-legal-action-departure-west-bromwich-albion

Version 0 of 1.

Paul Jewell has decided to take legal advice following his sudden departure from West Bromwich Albion.

Just a week after joining Tony Pulis, the new head coach, at the Hawthorns and helping on the sidelines in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Hull City, Jewell surprisingly left the club on Tuesday night.

No explanation has so far been given as to why the former Bradford City, Wigan Athletic, Ipswich Town and Derby County manager has gone, with a statement on the club’s official website stating that Jewell had decided “he will not be continuing his recent assistance on a more formal basis”.

But Jewell released a statement on Wednesday which read: “[My exit] was not by mutual consent and it is in the hands of my lawyer. I will not be making any further comment at this stage.”

West Brom are to strongly defend any threat of legal action.

There has been speculation that Jewell was asked to take a pay cut to allow Pulis to bring in his former lieutanant Gerry Francis with whom he worked at Stoke and Crystal Palace. The former QPR and Tottenham manager has now signed a contract with the club after working informally over the past month since the 7-0 FA Cup defeat of Gateshead.

Francis told Sky Sports he was unaware of the reasons behind Jewell’s departure. “I’ve no idea. He was there Saturday, I was there Saturday at the game … I don’t really know what the situation is from that point of view. I only found out myself last night.”

Pulis claims Francis’s “insight and experience of the very highest levels of our game” were reasons behind his appointment.

Francis added: “I’ve been there since the Gateshead game, been there for some time now. It was just really deciding whether I was going to do what I did at Crystal Palace and at Stoke for Tony, the same sort of part-time deal, and get back to the travelling again. Obviously I’ve agreed to do that now.”

Asked what his duties were, Francis said: “Everything really – coaching two days a week and obviously all the games – doing very similar to what I did at Crystal Palace and Stoke.”