Town midfielder Jimmy Bullard has launched an appeal against his sacking by former club Hull City. The Tigers terminated the 32-year-old’s contract for an alleged incident of gross misconduct during their pre-season trip to Slovenia.

Bullard’s legal representatives are understood to have begun proceedings with the Football League, who are empowered to appoint a commission to hear arguments from both the player and the club.

The former Wigan and Fulham man is appealing against the grounds of his Hull exit and is seeking loss of earnings, which would be the difference between the £45,000-a-week he earned from his contract at the KC Stadium, which had almost two years to run, and his new two-year deal with the Blues, thought to be worth somewhere approaching £20,000-a-week.

Hull are reported to be arguing that the appeal isn’t valid due to Bullard having joined the Blues.

Speaking after signing for Town last month, Bullard was remaining tight-lipped regarding his Tigers departure, which is alleged to relate to an altercation with former Hull goalkeeper-coach Joe Corrigan, who also recently left the club: “There’s not too much I can say on that. My lawyers are dealing with it at the minute, so I’ve been told to say that. It’s in my lawyers’ hands.

“I enjoyed my time at Hull, I’ve always said that. I wish all the boys the best, that’s all I’ve got to say on the matter.”

Photo: Action Images

itfc1981 added 10:49 - Sep 8 Mr B keep your eyes on your new club please.
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PhilTWTD added 10:52 - Sep 8 Again, probably best not to speculate on the precise nature of the alleged incident given that lawyers are involved.
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DiamondGezzer added 10:58 - Sep 8 In fairness to Jimmy [ and not knowing the exact cercumstances ] the difference between 20 - 45 grand over two years is a lot of money and worth trying for. Especially knowing his playing [ earning ] time is possibly drawing close.
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TractorMan added 11:13 - Sep 8 From a legal perspective, whether he has gained other employment (with us!) is irrelevant. He is claiming for loss of earnings and unlawful dismissal. This has no bearing on his future plans - if they had witheld his registration they would also have been in breach of his human right to seek employment and freedom to trade. He'll walk away with something from Hull - it's got out of court settlement with a confidentiality clause written all over it!

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Lambrettaman added 11:25 - Sep 8 That's not entirely true TractorMan, this appeal is with a view to getting his sacking overturned and having him reinstated, which is obviously not going to happen now he's playing for you. If he wants to take action for loss of earnings on the grounds of him not breaching his contract in the first place, then he'll have to do it through the High Court, not through an employment tribunal. I think the club have enough dirt on him to not have to pay him anything at all, but the sooner the thing is concluded, the better for everyone.

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TractorMan added 11:45 - Sep 8 Lambretta - it's not about being reinstated, it's acknowledging wrongful dismissal and in effect causing him to leave and seek employment elsewhere against his wishes. He'll get something, because dirt or not - I believe there is more here than Hull are letting on, otherwise they wouldn't have taken 4 weeks to get rid. It's going to be a technicality and they won't want Bullard speaking up about what has gone on.

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Lambrettaman added 12:13 - Sep 8 This is only an appeal that's heard by the club chairman Assem Allam, to ask if he'll reconsider his sacking and reinstate him, it's not a court, it has no powers to award any loss of earnings or decide if anything was unfair. If he wants to challenge things further it will be through the courts, not through a PFA meeting with our club chairman.
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Superfrans added 12:21 - Sep 8 Lambrettaman - you seem to be confusing an appeal to the Football League (which is what this story is about) and an appeal to Hull (which you are talking about) - although how and why he would ask to be reinstated when he has already signed a deal with another club, is a bit of a mystery to me.
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TractorMan added 12:31 - Sep 8 Superfranz - you are correct - Hull and their chairman have had their chance - this is now with the Football League who are likely to say it has to go to the High Court. Hull won't let it get that far due to the costs involved so an out of court settlement is the likely outcome.
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beech1972 added 12:34 - Sep 8 Do Hull have "dirt or Evidence" on him?
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tractorgirl09 added 12:41 - Sep 8 So if Jimmy wins this appeal, he gets to go back to Hull and recieves a settlement?!
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TractorMan added 12:51 - Sep 8 Tractorgirl09 - no of course he doesn't go back to Hull - but Hull will have to pay up the remainder of his contract - the difference between his salary at us and his salary there. As stated though, no-one believes it will get to that stage as both have too much to lose.
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blue_em_away added 12:51 - Sep 8 TractorMan Totaly agree. I would not be surprised if Hull's intention all along was an out of court setlement of 2mil (20k a week), knowing someone else would quickly sign him up. If offered Jimmy, take it and don't get get consumed by "winning"
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tractorgirl09 added 12:55 - Sep 8 @tractorman thought as much,lets hope this doens't go on and on....
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sackdurso added 12:59 - Sep 8 this is the most blatant stitch up by hull fc. he doesnt train with them for all last season the fans dont like him because the club said he wouldnt take a wage reduction when they got relegated even though they have the parachute payment and then he goes on loan to itfc, then no one comes in to buy him and out of the blue they take him training to slovenia where the alleged incident happens and luckily the chairman is there on hand to witness the serious incident with joe corrigan. how fortunate for them to then sack him releiving them of £45-55k per week for the next two years. what a stroke of luck for Hull hmm???hull & their supporters =cry babies

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colchesterchris added 13:00 - Sep 8 Lambretta - The football league commission is effectively a football version of an employment tribunal. As such, I'm afraid your incorrect. An employment tribunal, and I know this from experience, do hear cases relating to loss of earnings. They also expect the claimant, in this case JB, to have made some effort to mitigate his losses. For example to not bother to look for work and claim would be looked at unfavourably as there's been no effort from the claimant to reduce the losses from being made unemployed. However in this circumstance Jimmy has taken employment and therefore met this requirement. He is therefore legally entitled to claim unfair dismissal, which is 100% a tribunal issue and not a Crown Court issue. The only way it would become a court issue is if he appeals the tribunals decision based on inaccurate representation of the law. He is therefore more than entitled to claim the difference in earnings over the remaining time on his Hull contract and his lower wage at PR.

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JewellintheTown added 13:45 - Sep 8 Right lads (and lassies if you're interested), lets send the boys round to Hull and sort this out on behalf of our Jim, man to man! Who's with me? I hear Jimmy got a mean left hook, so lets call him too.
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broomfield123 added 14:42 - Sep 8 Talking to a hull player he was only getting paid about %30 of his wages from the start of last season. the players loved him saying his a great player but certainly not the full ticket. Apparantly not all is well at hull with players wanting to leave
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Crock added 15:16 - Sep 8 An appeal against his sacking? So if he win he'll go back to Hull then.
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ITFC4daprem added 16:23 - Sep 8 fingers crossed he doesn't get injured on 20 k a week
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TractorRoyNo1 added 09:56 - Sep 9 umm, if he were to win the appeal wouldn't that make him a hull player again and we would have to pay a fee for him
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Sam999 added 09:59 - Sep 9 Bullard needs to forget about hull, its an itfc boy now!
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Rickster added 16:09 - Sep 9 If Mr Bullard wants as much money to have before hanging up his boots then he should not have spent most of his time getting legless at the various watering holes in Hull. Not to mention his other antics he got up to. He does not learn at all, he's like an spoilt big kid who has been watching Gazza's antics too much. If he wants to carry on playing football then he has to quit his various vices. Then he can play a lot longer than he will do if he cleans up his act. The way he acts now he will be ready for the knackers yard sooner than later.

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