Swansea City ordered to pay £108k in compensation for unfairly sacking two directors
Swansea City have been ordered to pay out nearly £110,000 in compensation for unfairly sacking two club directors when it was bought by American millionaires.
They axed the long-serving directors after their resignations were "faked" during a takeover the new American owners.
Steve Penny, 62, and Don Keefe, 79, have been awarded the compensation despite their claims of age discrimination being rejected.
Swansea City denied unfair dismissal and argued both men would have resigned from their jobs any way.
But a employment tribunal at Cardiff Magistrates' ruled the unfair dismissal claims were "well founded", and a judge later disagreed both men had already been on their way out.
Mr Keefe was awarded £78,962 compensation, and Mr Penny was awarded £30,000.
Both men - who were directors at Swansea for 14 years after helping rescue the club from folding - had their responsibilities stripped back following the £110 million sale of the club in 2016.
A week-long tribunal ruled the new roles amount to a breach of contract and ordered the latest hearing to settle compensation between the men and the club.
The earlier hearing in December also heard club chairman Huw Jenkins pushed through the club's sale to an American consortium after signing off on a written "record" of their resignations.
Faked board meeting notes stated the men had voluntarily resigned - a condition for the takeover to go ahead - but Mr Jenkins later admitted the meeting had "likely" never actually happened.