“He had been wrongly dismissed by the club.”
Republic of Ireland international Richard Keogh has been awarded £2.3m by Derby County following a long-running breach of contract case against them.
Keogh, who currently plays for Huddersfield Town, has been embroiled in a dispute with his former club after Derby sacked him following a car crash back in October 2019.
Richard Keogh.
In September 2019, while plying his trade at Derby, Keogh was involved in a serious car accident on the way back from a team bonding session.
Keogh was accompanied by his teammates at the time— Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett, who were both over the drink driving limit. Keogh was a passenger in Lawrence’s vehicle while Bennett was driving his own car ahead of them.
Lawrence then drove into Bennett’s car before smashing into a lamppost leaving Keogh unconscious and with seriously injured knee ligaments.
The defender’s injuries required him to have surgery and ruled him out of playing for a year.
At the time, Derby had told Keogh that he could stay and see out his deal (due to run until June 2021) but they insisted that he had to accept a massive pay cut.
However, Keogh refused to accept the aforementioned terms and as a result, he was dismissed in October 2019.
Keogh wins appeal.
The 34-year-old then took up the matter with EFL’s Player Related Dispute Commission where he was awarded full compensation.
While Derby challenged the decision at the League Appeals’ Committee (LAC), they failed to overturn the original verdict. And last week, the LAC upheld the initial decision to award Keogh the necessary payout.
An EFL statement reads as follows:
“The LAC has heard and dismissed an appeal under the regulations of the EFL by Derby against the decision of the PRDC in the case of Richard Keogh,” it said.
“The PDRC held that Mr Keogh had not committed gross misconduct, that he had not brought the club into serious disrepute and that he had been wrongly dismissed by the club.”
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