GEORGE Burley's sacking has inevitable financial implications for the cash-strapped first division club.The former boss is believed to have been given a pay-off of more than £1 million in total - the value of the remainder of his lucrative contract signed after Town's highly-successful first season in the Premiership.

By Paul Geater

SACKING George Burley has inevitable financial implications for the cash-strapped first division club.

The former boss is believed to have been given a pay-off of more than £1 million in total - the value of the remainder of his lucrative contract signed after Town's highly-successful first season in the Premiership.

For a club facing severe financial problems - it needed to make up a shortfall of about £13 million earlier this season - that is a substantial amount.

A spokesman for the club said the dismissal would impact its finances significantly - but there will inevitably be a cost.

Burley's four-year contract, signed last summer, was valued at an estimated £500,000 a year with bonuses on top.

At the very least, that would leave the club having to pay him an extra £1.25 million - either as a lump sum or, as the bank manager would prefer, to just continue paying his wages monthly.

A new manager would be paid a first division, rather than a Premiership, salary.

That would be about £200,000 rather than £500,000 a year.

But it would still leave the club needing to find that extra £200,000 a year - a figure that its bank manager would not be happy about.

Of course the club is currently paying first team coach Tony Mowbray a Premiership first team coach's salary and if he were to get the job full time, money could be saved there.

With a reshuffle among the coaching staff, there could be savings to be made as a result of the dismissal.

If an outsider is brought in, he is unlikely to be allowed to bring along other staff - the club will be unwilling to pay off any other people currently on Premiership salaries.

One financial option has been ruled out.

The club has said it will not be taking the second tranche of its Sky television "parachute" payment early.

The parachute payment is for clubs relegated from the Premiership to act as cushion for the loss Sky Television funds.

It is taken over two years - £5 in the first year and about half that a year later.

There is an option to bring the second payment forward for a club in dire financial straits, and both Derby County and Leicester City are believed to have taken their second year payment early.

The fact that it was so conclusively rejected today suggests that Ipswich's finances are not as serious as some fear.

The club maintains its financial position has not been dented by Burley's dismissal.

"The financial situation at the club has not been altered by today's events," a spokesman for the club said today.