Cardiff consider legal action over the Emiliano Sala plane disaster as they face £14m loss

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Cardiff City could launch a negligence claim over the Emiliano Sala plane disaster as the club faces a financial loss of around £14 million even after insurance payouts, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Senior figures at the club are increasingly concerned by the decision to fly their record signing across the English Channel in a single-engined plane built in 1984 and piloted by a part-time gas engineer.

Cardiff are now considering their legal position as they face a three-year contract bill estimated by accountants at £30million, including a £2.5million agents fee. Accident insurance is only likely to cover half the forecasted loss. One source payments from Cardiff to Nantes have been frozen until officials have established the facts from the crash.

Last night the club told The Telegraph: "Cardiff has made its position very clear that it had nothing to do with the arrangements of the flight, and now new information is coming in every day as we are continuing to investigate the chain of events and the cause of the accident. We are looking at the potential possibility of negligence that may have caused the accident.”

The flight was booked independently by Sala's agent and Mark McKay, an intermediary in the deal. Emergency service believe the plane crashed into the sea on Monday night after taking off from Nantes, north-west France. The club is particularly keen to discuss the chain of events with the owners of the US-registered Piper PA-46-310P Malibu.

A total £20million transfer fee had been agreed with Nantes, including a £3million bonus if the club survived relegation. Sala had been due at his first training session in Wales on Tuesday. The transfer documents had already been filed with the FA and Fifa. Cardiff "will pay whatever is due, once they have established all the answers and can determine all the facts", a source said.

The search for the aircraft officially ended on Thursday, against the wishes of his family. Rescue crews had covered an area of around 1,700 square miles of land and sea without finding any remains of the aircraft. Yesterday, Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona both supported calls to resume the search. A receptionist at the hotel where the pilot had been staying also added to the mystery by she believed the plane had been due to leave up to 10 hours before it eventually took off.

The club is believed to have had £16million (20.9m euros) of personal accident (PA) protection with the financial giant Lloyd’s to cover its players. Trade magazine Insurance Insider reports the club’s accident policy is led by China Re Syndicate 2088 and brokered by Miller. Sala’s name is likely to have been added to the Premier League club’s policy when the transfer was completed on January 19, just two days before his death. China Re’s lead line represents around 16 percent of the total limit, with other Lloyd’s insurers set to pay the rest of the claim. The Piper Malibu aircraft, which vanished off the coast of Guernsey, is also insured in the London market.

The minimum £17million transfer fee for the Argentinian striker, excluding the £3million Premier League survival bonus. was previously agreed to be paid in three instalments. The player's agent, Meissa N'Diaye, and McKay were also due huge windfalls.

In addition to the £30million bill - which includes Sala's projected salary and fees - the club is braced for a subsequent impact on revenue from sponsorship arrangements and shirt sales. One source said the club will pay Nantes "whatever they believe to be a fair amount once they have established all the possibilities, including any negligence claims".

The plane was built in 1984, and was registered in the United States rather than Britain through a company based in Norfolk.

The owners said in a statement issued by Southern Aircraft Consultancy they are "fully cooperating with the appropriate authorities, including the AAIB (air investigators) and police".

The pilot, Dave Ibbotson, held a private pilot's licence, according to US Federal Aviation Aviation Administration records. There is no public record of him having a commercial qualification. Ian Marshall, a friend of Mr Ibbotson’s who sat with him on the British Parachute Association council, told The Guardian: “Most of the pilots who have these private licences are semi-commercial. You’re not meant to fly for any financial reward but that’s not to say you can’t fly for reasonable expenses. That’s how many of them get around it."

Ken Choo, the chief executive, recognised the club is now facing a severe striker shortage as the transfer window expires. However, the interim Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has apparently told him the league is powerless to offer any special dispensations to make a signing beyond the end of January.

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...disaster-face/

Anyone going to tell the club to **** off, and they don’t care if they are relegated to the dungeon? Like they did KenDoddwhatsit for raising the same question?

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Anyone going to tell the club to **** off, and they don’t care if they are relegated to the dungeon? Like they did KenDoddwhatsit for raising the same question?

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Someone's tipsy and looking for a fight. Go to bed

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Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...disaster-face/

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This is all going to be really messy isn’t it?

It’s an absolute tragedy, the whole thing. It makes me even sadder to read this which is just a small taste of what could be to come.

There has been a lot of touching talk about a close relationship with Nantes now- our twin city- and while that still may happen there are hints there of how it could get messy. For example it says we owe £3million extra if we stay up under the terms of the contract. If we do stay up (unlikely I know so we probably won’t have to think about it) I’d guess we still have to pay the extra £3million? It’s small change really and it really doesn’t matter on the grand scheme of things. It would just be a shame if it turns into all this even before us or Nantes have even played again!

There are two considerations to this tragic affair and, as Choo has explained, the club needs to keep them entirely separate.

It's already clear that the Club will do everything they can in support of Sala's family - and so they should. But at the same time they are a business and in the past 2 or 3 years in particular (or since Dalman / Choo have been running things) have also shown they intend running the show in a professional manner. The article above demonstrates they will be working to protect the club's interest throughout - beginning with an assessment of the facts and what, exactly, they are liable for.

I hadn't realised the club will be responsible for paying Sala's wages for the next three years under the terms of the contract. The club have no option other than to consider launching a negligence claim as the arrangements made for the flight, as evidence emerges, were suspiciously inappropriate and require more detailed investigation. If the evidence that is emerging is true this tragic episode could have been avoided.

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Originally Posted by Vindec

I hadn't realised the club will be responsible for paying Sala's wages for the next three years under the terms of the contract. The club have no option other than to consider launching a negligence claim as the arrangements made for the flight, as evidence emerges, were suspiciously inappropriate and require more detailed investigation. If the evidence that is emerging is true this tragic episode could have been avoided.

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This may be a naive question, but who is going to receive his salary?

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Originally Posted by delmbox

Someone's tipsy and looking for a fight. Go to bed

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Awake and fresh as a daisy now.

I ask the question again, Anyone going to get all emotional and sanctimonious about this thread as they did when Kendodd raised the same question?

Personally, I hope they sue the arse of the Mckays

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Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy

This may be a naive question, but who is going to receive his salary?

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Presumably his next of kin.

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Originally Posted by Vindec

Presumably his next of kin.

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Is that normal? If I passed away my employer wouldn't continue paying my next of kin until the end of my contract.

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Awake and fresh as a daisy now.

I ask the question again, Anyone going to get all emotional and sanctimonious about this thread as they did when Kendodd raised the same question?

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f*ck me, you're boring.

Imagine spending your life sat on a computer trying to take the moral high ground and moaning at people for being affected by a 28-year-old lad, chasing his dream, losing his life in the most tragic of circumstances.

Congrats, it doesn't affect you because you didn't know him, well done to you. Truth be told it made me feel gutted for a few days but the shock has now wore off. But to actively go out your way to try and goad people who are still affected by it is painfully tedious.

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Originally Posted by simonp_ccfc

Is that normal? If I passed away my employer wouldn't continue paying my next of kin until the end of my contract.

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Don’t qualify for death in service with my employer until been working with the company for 2 years.

Football doesn’t play by the same rules as everyonelse though so don’t know how it will work.

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Originally Posted by Father Dougal

This is all going to be really messy isn’t it?

It’s an absolute tragedy, the whole thing. It makes me even sadder to read this which is just a small taste of what could be to come.

There has been a lot of touching talk about a close relationship with Nantes now- our twin city- and while that still may happen there are hints there of how it could get messy. For example it says we owe £3million extra if we stay up under the terms of the contract. If we do stay up (unlikely I know so we probably won’t have to think about it) I’d guess we still have to pay the extra £3million? It’s small change really and it really doesn’t matter on the grand scheme of things. It would just be a shame if it turns into all this even before us or Nantes have even played again!

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Let’s just hope insurance does what it’s supposed to, and pay out to us so we can pay Nantes. Whoever organised that flight will probably end up in court I guess? Sala’s family would seek compensation ?

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Originally Posted by goats

Let’s just hope insurance does what it’s supposed to, and pay out to us so we can pay Nantes. Whoever organised that flight will probably end up in court I guess? Sala’s family would seek compensation ?

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Yes even if they were not interested in getting a penny financially- they will.surely need to know exactly how this all happened. And rightly so.

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Personally, I hope they sue the arse of the Mckays

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That would make NW squirm I think as they are very tight...

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Originally Posted by goats

Let’s just hope insurance does what it’s supposed to, and pay out to us so we can pay Nantes. Whoever organised that flight will probably end up in court I guess? Sala’s family would seek compensation ?

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I would imaging the insurance company would also be looking for legal remedy if any negligence was involved, and probably the family too.

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Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy

This may be a naive question, but who is going to receive his salary?

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Without wishing to be callous, it's hard to see how we would be obliged to pay his salary because we would be paying that for him playing football for us. If he his dead that is obviously impossible. His employment contract would presumably be frustrated. So presumably we are talking instead about some sort of life insurance policy.

In which case it will depend on how the contract and his life insurance is structured but with a lot of life insurance policies provided by employers, the employee gets to choose how to allocate the payout (or in some cases, salary). If Sala didn't make clear to whom it should be paid, I imagine it just forms part of his estate and will be dealt with by will or rules on intestacy. But of course there is a further complication: compounding this tragedy is the fact that he has not yet been found and may never be. Which I suspect means it may be a very long time before he is legally declared dead (and of course there is still the remote possibility that he may not be). I have no idea what that means for life insurance policies or the club's keyman insurance policies.

Hang on - am I reading that right? We've not actually paid anything to Nantes yet? Surely we transfer the agreed up front amount when the transfer is registered with the football associations?

Think it was pending registration, seemed like a formality though.

All so terrible. Even if they went after the agent surely that type of money wouldn't be available. Then there's the question of if the player wasn't even officially registered yet what are the chances they even had insurance on him? Feels dirty even talking about it

I read somewhere today that we have paid the first of 3 planned payments but it would appear we will still have to pay the rest, which would be normal. If you buy a new car on HP and crash it the first day you still have to pay for it.

However there will be some insurance to cover some if not all of that amount, and any finding of negligence would probably result in a claim against 3rd parties for compo.
Also he was fully properly registered according to the FAW and would therefore fall under the umbrella of Cardiff City key player insurance automatically, (or so it seems).

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Anyone going to tell the club to **** off, and they don’t care if they are relegated to the dungeon? Like they did KenDoddwhatsit for raising the same question?

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I said it..most were thinking it

It's an odd situation. I can understand paying the initial transfer fees to Nantes (and - annoyingly - the agent!) because it was a 'done and dusted' transfer deal. However the idea that Cardiff would have to pay 3 year's of contract payments to someone who is unfortunately not around anymore (RIP) seems bizarre - as others have said, normal fixed-term employment contracts don't do that.

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Originally Posted by mrbluejay

That would make NW squirm I think as they are very tight...

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This could get a bit messy to say the least, A barrister has given Cardiff guidance on the issue.

I read this yesterday and it suggests the club have frozen payments and launched their own investigation. Apologies if already posted elsewhere.

"It is our understanding the Sala transfer fee is due in three separate installments to Nantes, the first of which was due this week. But Cardiff have employed their own investigators to try to establish the full facts before embarking upon the next course of action."

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...ction-15735827

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Originally Posted by TheMightyBluebirds

It's an odd situation. I can understand paying the initial transfer fees to Nantes (and - annoyingly - the agent!) because it was a 'done and dusted' transfer deal. However the idea that Cardiff would have to pay 3 year's of contract payments to someone who is unfortunately not around anymore (RIP) seems bizarre - as others have said, normal fixed-term employment contracts don't do that.

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My employment contract pays a lump sum to Mrs Monk and a small pension if I die whilst employed by them.