Andy Webster sees case paving the way for players to pay up and leave

From The Times

February 21, 2008

Scott Rutherford

Andy Webster expects that his landmark court case result will allow leading footballers nearing the end of long-term contracts to walk away from their clubs with barely any fuss.

Webster, the defender on loan at Rangers, left Heart of Midlothian in 2006 to join Wigan Athletic, taking advantage of Article 17 in Fifa’s player status and transfer regulations. Article 17 enables termination after three years when a contract is due to end before the player’s 28th birthday and allows older players to leave after two years, provided compensation is paid. The rule was introduced in 2001 after a compromise deal with the European Commission, which had threatened to abolish the transfer system.

Last month, Webster learnt that he had succeeded in challenging Fifa’s demand that he should pay Hearts £625,000 in compensation and had the sum reduced to £150,000, the equivalent of his final year of salary at Tynecastle. Hearts had been seeking about £4.5 million at the Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland, claiming they should have been compensated for the cost of replacing Webster.

Webster’s case could lead to players around the world seeking to end their contracts early, on the basis that clubs may need only to pay up their final year of salary to secure deals.

The 25-year-old has been mentioned alongside Jean-Marc Bosman as a pioneer for freedom of movement and said: “I didn’t envisage this would happen. But when I went to Switzerland in October last year that’s when I realised it was a big deal as both sets of legal teams were there and you could see what they were arguing over.

“It was not just about football, it was about the laws governing the game in general, so that is when I saw for myself the importance of the case and what a big thing it was. I now hear big-name stars talking about moving in a similar way and it was me that was the guinea pig right at the start.

“It has taken 20 months for my situation to be concluded, but for the next person it will probably take a couple of days. But when I made my decision to leave Hearts two summers ago, that was it and once the wheels were in motion, it was a matter of persevering and pushing for what I believed in.”

Knee and ankle injuries have dogged Webster since he joined Rangers 13 months ago and he has made only one first-team appearance so far. He is fit again now and has been on reserve-team duty, with the Scotland international determined to stake his claim for a place in Walter Smith’s first XI. “Hopefully, I can now get on with my football, which is so important to me,” he said. “That is what I am paid to do and what I enjoy.”