Mick Cooke takes legal action against Bray Wanderers

Former Bray Wanderers manager Mick Cooke has initiated legal proceedings against the club over the unpaid part of his contract which had been due to run until the end of next season.

The 65-year-old Dubliner was sacked in mid-April after the team made a poor start to the new campaign despite significant investment in new players during the close season.

The legal action is the latest in a string of disputes that the club has found itself embroiled in with Darren Quigley having been awarded €6,100 in the District Court in June after pursuing the club for unpaid signing on fees while another former manager, Alan Mathews, claims he and his former staff are owed around €10,000 between them in unpaid wages.

Mathews has suggested that he intends to bring the matter back to the FAI whose licensing procedures are intended to ensure that “football debts” are paid.

Wanderers subsequently appealed the decision in the Quigley case to the Circuit Court with a hearing expected next year while the club apparently disputes Mathews’ claim.

Cooke is believed to have a far larger sum outstanding, something approaching €100,000, in part because he had signed a new, improved contract after having enjoyed initial success at the club last year. He had taken over at the Carlisle Grounds in July after a period of turmoil but guided them to eighth place in the final table.

He declined to comment on his action, saying only that the matter is with his solicitors.

Wanderers chairman, Denis O’Connor said that he was aware of Cooke’s action and that “anything that’s in the legal process, you have to see out.

“We will deal with it when we get there,” he continued. “But most of these things get settled. That’s the hope anyway, otherwise you end up giving all of the money to the lawyers.”

The precise circumstances that led to manager’s departure are disputed by the two sides. The club appear to recognise, though, that the contract is an issue that will have to be resolved one way or another.