League Championship club Blackburn Rovers was "pilloried by a presiding judge" who described its way of operating as “utterly unforgivable,” as they launched a last-minute fight to stop sacked Manager Henning Berg being awarded £2.2M ($3.4M) in unpaid wages, according to the London INDEPENDENT. Having "initially agreed to meet Berg’s demands for the payment of his three-year contract in full," Rovers revealed at a High Court hearing that they had "changed their minds." Blackburn filed papers after a pre-agreed deadline in a way Judge Mark Pilling said was “woefully inadequate” and “entirely contrary to the way justice is supposed to be served.” Blackburn Owner Anuradha Desai "has hired new solicitors" who will now claim that Managing Dir Derek Shaw "had no authority to give 43-year-old Berg -- who was sacked after 56 days in December -- a contract entitling him to such lucrative severance terms." However, Desai’s claim that Shaw had no authority "is deeply undermined by a press release" -- still accessible on the Rovers’ website as of Wednesday night -- which claimed earlier this month that Shaw has the “complete backing and support” of the owners and that there was “no investigation” into the Berg contract (INDEPENDENT, 4/17).
