We’re not in position to hold employees against their will, admits Paul Barber

Having sacked Thomas Tuchel in the aftermath of their loss to Dinamo Zagreb, Chelsea acted rapidly to get their replacement and brought in Graham Potter. That was only after the Blues got permission from Brighton and Hove Albion to talk to the Englishman which was only because the Stamford Bridge side agreed to meet Potter’s £20 million compensation clause. The 47-year-old eventually left the Seagulls for the Blues, taking a few members of his coaching staff with him.

“Football clubs are not prisons. We are not in a position to hold employees against their will. We try to do as much as we can to protect ourselves with contracts. Contracts, we hope, will always be respected, but where people have an outstanding opportunity and they feel that it’s better for them, their careers, their families, then we’ve got an open mind,” Barber said, reported the Athletic.

“Obviously, we don’t want to lose our best people and we make it as difficult as possible for people to leave and for people to take our staff, but in certain situations, we have to be realistic that it will happen. And in that scenario, we either protect ourselves with contracts that allow us to place people on gardening leave as we did with Dan, in order to protect our club or to guard against losing key people at key times, or protect ourselves financially. 

“A combination of those at times is necessary. To tell someone that they can’t speak to another prospective employer, in my opinion, and Tony’s (owner-chairman Tony Bloom) opinion, only breeds the kind of behavior where people go behind your back, they have secret meetings, and it comes out and it’s a bigger story, it’s more disruptive, it’s potentially more damaging, it unsettles more staff.