Rooney wins court battle with former agency

MANCHESTER United footballer Wayne Rooney has successfully fought off a multi-million pound claim from his former agency, Wilmslow-based Proactive Sports Management Ltd.

Proactive was seeking damages of more than £8m from Rooney’s company, claiming that he had breached the terms of his contract with them following his decision to switch to Triple S Sports and Entertainment – an agency co-owned by Rooney’s former agent and Proactive founder Paul Stretford.

Proactive was seeking £4m in damages for breach of contract. It also sought to claim ongoing commission of £3m on a number of Rooney’s sponsorship agreements running until 2017.

However, Judge Hegarty dismissed the claims by Proactive’s legal team, describing the claim on ongoing sponsorship revenues as “adventurous”.

He also agreed with lawyers representing Rooney from Liverpool-based law firm Hill Dickinson that the image rights agreement that had been signed between Rooney and Proactive had represented an unreasonable restraint of trade.

Judge Hegarty did uphold a claim from Proactive that it was entitled to a payment of just over £5,000 in accountancy fees owed by Rooney.

“I am delighted to have won this case. I was stunned when Proactive, which is now part of James Grant Group, claimed in court that Coleen and I owed them at first £8.3m and then £4.5m,” Rooney said.

“Coleen and I have always been happy to pay all commissions due to the people who were owed them. But these sums were a joke and we felt they were just an attempt to exploit us. Fortunately the judge has knocked back their massively over-inflated claims and we are happy to pay the very small sum awarded.

“Going to court was the last thing I wanted to do. I was shocked that a company which represents some of Britain’s biggest entertainers was going down this road which meant that private financial and commercial matters were made public. But you always have to fight for what’s right in life and that’s why we contested it.”

Stretford said that he believed Proactive’s claims were “baseless and exploitative”.

“I would like to thank Wayne and Coleen for showing such strength of conviction and resilience under a great deal of pressure, and for believing in what they felt was right.

“Furthermore, I would like to put on record my thanks and appreciation to everyone on our legal teams and in particular Geraldine Ryan of Hill Dickinson and Paul Chaisty QC; Wayne and Coleen’s barrister.”

Ryan, who is Hill Dickinson’s head of commercial litigation, said she was “delighted with the outcome”.

“Proactive have pursued Wayne aggressively for overinflated sums when it should have realised that the agreement was unenforceable due to its length, its terms and the fact that Wayne and his parents were not properly advised at the time.  Since Wayne has successfully defended this claim, we will be seeking substantial costs from Proactive,” she said. 

Proactive Sports Management, whose ownership reverted back to former parent Formation Group from recent purchaser James Grant Group today, said that it was “highly regrettable” that it had to take action, blaming a “decision by Mr and Mrs Rooney and their companies to refuse to pay outstanding invoices and to claim back sums which they had previously paid” for the instigation of its claim.

“Proactive is delighted that the Court has rejected the claim by Mr and Mrs Rooney’s companies to recover monies back from it and has accepted that further sums are to be paid by those companies for the services provided to them by Proactive,” the firm said in a statement. “It is also pleased that the Court has accepted Proactive’s factual evidence and substantially rejected as false the contentious account of events put forward on behalf of Mr and Mrs Rooney’s companies by their principal witness, Mr Paul Stretford.”

The company added it was “disappointed” that the court did not accept the arguments it put forward relating to claims on future revenues and said that it would “continue to take all appropriate steps to ensure that it receives proper and reasonable recompense for its successful endeavours in representing Mr and Mrs Rooney and their companies over many years”.