Aston Villa’s Alan Hutton Contract – Is There Any Way Out of it?

The Alan Hutton Contract

In his latest blog law graduate Matt Rogers explores all the options of Alan Hutton’s contractual situation. Perhaps not the best deal of the Randy Lerner regime, what are the ways out of it?

Introduction

Alan Hutton has not played for Aston Villa since Paul Lambert became manager in August 2012. He is one of the last members of Villa’s ‘bomb squad’ which has contributed to the club being 6th in the Premier League Net Spend table over the past five seasons. Last week Lambert gave an honest and frank interview revealing for the first time that Hutton’s admittance from the first-team is a consequence of his high wage which is reported to be around £40k per week.

After failed moves back to Real Mallorca last summer and Huddersfield Town in January Hutton has now agreed a loan move to Bolton Wanderers until the end of March. One would assume Villa will have contributed at least 50% of his wage to make the move work.

The long-term situation between Villa and Hutton has become a stand-off with financial, rather than footballing reasons seemingly dictating his decision to remain at the club. With 16 months left remaining on his four-year contract, worth £3m, this article will explore the options available to Hutton and Villa ahead of the summer as a solution is sought to offload a player surplus to requirements.

The Options

1)  Hutton secures a transfer

The first and easiest option would be for Hutton to secure a transfer away from Villa Park. After January’s negotiations with Huddersfield broke down when Hutton deemed Villa’s contractual pay-off unsuitable, a compromise could be reached this summer with another club.

The pay-off would be less with Hutton’s contract due to expire in June 2015 and there would be mutual benefit were both parties to find a solution. As seen last summer with Real Mallorca, however, Hutton’s contractual demands may prove a stumbling block again. Hutton may be unwilling to take a pay-cut to ensure he is playing regular football again given he is guaranteed £40k wage every week for the remainder of his contract.

2)  Hutton leaves on loan, Villa subsidise wages

This is a strong possibility, although Villa have had variable success so far. In his interview last week Paul Lambert stated that “Even if Alan went on loan we would help on the financial side of things. There’s no issues with him but Alan understands the situation.”

This has been reinforced by his move to Bolton. There would need to be further interest in Hutton, however, and Lambert admitted “It’s baffling that we’ve had no offers because he’s playing well for the national side, is good and works hard in training.”

If there was interest from a club it remains to be seen whether Hutton would leave. A variety of factors would be taken into account such as the location of the club and what level they were playing at. It is quite conceivable that Hutton could remain at Villa Park.

 3) See out the contract

With 16 months left on his contract it is conceivable that Hutton could remain at Villa until June 2015. Continuing to train with the development squad with no chance of playing another game for the club would be a difficult situation for both the club and the player with a possible negative effect on the rest of the squad.

A prime example of a player willing to see out his contract rather than risk this principle is Winston Bogarde. In 2000 Winston Bogarde signed for Chelsea by manager Gianluca Vialli on a lucrative four-year contract reportedly worth around £10m. After Claudio Ranieri took over from Vialli, he set about offloading Bogarde, but due to his high wages there were no interested clubs so Bogarde sat out the remainder of his contract training with the reserve and youth teams before eventually leaving when his contract expired. Bogarde failed to find another club after Chelsea and duly retired.

4)  “Sporting just cause”

The riskiest and most unlikely route of all for Alan Hutton would be to terminate his contract on the grounds of “sporting just cause”. Under Article 15 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players a player can prematurely terminate his contract unilaterally citing “sporting just cause” where there are valid sporting reasons.

If successful, his existing contract can be set aside but he and his potential new club would be liable in compensation to Villa. Such compensation may, however, also be set aside if the player can prove that the club has completely neglected Hutton from a sporting point of view, as it was not interested in his services.[1] If unsuccessful, compensation will still be due and possible sporting sanctions could also be imposed on Hutton.[2] It is thought that the compensation payable would be considerably lower where “sporting just cause” has been established as opposed to when it has not.

Article 15

Article 15 FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players sets out the cumulative requirements necessary for a player to terminate his contract for “sporting just cause”:

– That he is an established professional;

– That he has played in less than 10% of the official matches in which his club was involved in the sporting season in question;  and

– That he terminates his employment contract during the 15 days following the final official match in the season of the club with which he was registered.

*Consideration shall also be given to the player’s circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

Whilst the chances of a player terminating his contract on the grounds of “sporting just cause” are remote, in Hutton’s case, since he’s unlikely to ever be offered £40,000-a-week again in his life-time, it’s unlikely he’ll try to force a move and risk losing his current deal and also potentially face the prospect of actually paying Aston Villa compensation.

(For a hypothetical analysis of Hutton pursuing the clause, see the link at the end to an expanded version of the article).

 Why has Hutton not played this season?

Questions have circulated as to why Alan Hutton has not played a competitive fixture for Villa this season in any competition. With Lambert’s stating finances was the main reason for his ommittance from the team the details of Hutton’s contract may explain why.

A footballer’s contract has many clauses written into it which reward the player financially amongst other things. Such clauses may include bonuses for a first-team place, being a second half substitute, being on the bench in addition to others such as clean sheet bonuses or assists.

There may also be appearance based clauses that would trigger a new contract or rise in wages. A great example of this was seen in the 2010/2011 season when Portsmouth players Richard Hughes and Michael Brown were told they would not be considered for the second-half of the season because a clause in their contracts stated that if either player was to make another appearance it would trigger a new contract with similar wages.

Both players seen out the remainder of their contracts without playing another game and left when their deals expired in 2011. A legal challenge by Hughes and Brown ensued after Portsmouth claimed they refused to play for the club. The club and the players finally reached a resolution last September.

Conclusion

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Alan Hutton on his return from Bolton. Whilst a transfer or another loan move is likely, terminating his contract on the grounds of “sporting just cause” is perhaps not. One thing is certain, Hutton will only move if the right deal presents itself both financially and professionally. Until then he remains very much a Villa player who must continue to honour his costly contract.