Webster strikes blow for player power as Hearts payment slashed

Fifa ruled Webster, 25, who signed for Wigan before joining Rangers on loan, should pay £625,000, while Hearts had demanded more than £4.5million.

But the Swiss-based CAS, the ultimate appeals body, ruled Hearts were not entitled to receive any of his perceived value in the transfer market and set the payment at the value of his final-year salary.

The ruling paves the way for a string of big-name players to negotiate an early exit from their contracts, and Wishart said: "This will be a revolution in book-keeping for professional clubs all over the world. Twelve years after Bosman, this is a new ground-breaking decision enabling players to enjoy greater freedom of employment."

Fifa had reached the £625,000 sum by multiplying the average figure from the residual value of Webster's contract with Hearts and the first year of his salary with Wigan by a co-efficient of 1.5. Hearts questioned how the compensation figure was reached and an appeal was launched to CAS in Lausanne.

Eight months later has arrived CAS's finding, one hailed as a victory for the player, but as a "dark day for clubs" by Hearts in a response to the judgement released on the Tynecastle team's website last night.

What is certain is that it will have ramifications for football as a whole, with players now apparently able to leave clubs in breach of contract and for a fraction of their market value.

Webster is jointly liable with Wigan to pay the £150,000 sum, with each party bearing the total cost of the three proceedings it has taken to reach yesterday's final decision. Hearts had requested £80,000 in legal expenses, but each party has been order to pay its own costs.

In a statement yesterday, CAS said: "The CAS has determined that an amount of £150,000 has to be paid by Webster to Hearts as compensation for unilateral breach of contract."

Wishart, at a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow, hailed it as a ground-breaking decision on a par with the Bosman ruling.

In December 1995, a Belgian court established that RFC Liege had acted unlawfully in preventing Jean-Luc Bosman moving to Dunkerque.

It paved the way for players around the world to become free agents at the end of their contracts, and changed the face of the football transfer system.

FIFPro, the international players' union, have supported Webster throughout. "This decision is perfectly in line with Fifa regulations and the Fifa-EU agreement," said Wil Van Megen, the union's lawyer.

"It respects labour laws as well as the specific nature of sport. It is a further normalisation in the relationship between a professional player and a club.

"From now on, the market is more transparent and all parties will know where they stand at the end of a protected period."

Taken from the Scotsman