I really don't understand this at all.
Like most if not all managers he'd be on a fixed term contract, and it doesn't matter whether you then have him working for you or not, that's up to you, the deal is
a) I will work for you for 3 years and
b) you will pay me for 3 years.
Under this sort of contract, as you can see, as long as I am ready and willing to work, then you have to pay me. If you want to get rid of me it is not relevant. You have to pay me. You pay me for 3 years. Or give me a 3 year payoff.
Deals can and often are struck, for a clean break, but ATEOTD if there is no deal then the employer simply has to pay up the contract.
The only hint in the report is this:
The Bulls declined to comment yesterday and Cramer added: "We are aware that Bradford believe there was an early-termination clause but that was not what was agreed.
"Very specifically, the three-year deal was agreed with the previous incumbent board of Gerry Sutcliffe and Omar Khan"
Why I don't understand it is that in the case of a written contract, there is no scope for "belief" as to whether an early-termination clause is in the contract, or it isn't. Surely, it's the simplest question of fact: RTFC? Surely, it can't be that the contract was purely verbal?
All very sad, especially remembering how Franny worked for nothing for a long spell.