When West Ham United were dithering over the future of Manuel Pellegrini there was much speculation over his pay-off.
Few could have foreseen the position West Ham found themselves in when they sacked the Chilean in December.
The Hammers started the season as they left off the previous campaign and were being tipped to challenge for a Champions League spot.
After an opening day drubbing from Manchester City, West Ham went unbeaten in six games including a 2-0 win over Manchester United.
Pellegrini had West Ham fans divided
But it was all downhill from there.
Some West Ham fans were divided about whether to sack Pellegrini. Many felt he needed to go sooner. Others feel he would have done enough to keep the club up at least and point to the fact results have not improved under David Moyes.
Speculation before Pellegrini was sacked was that co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold were reluctant to pull the trigger because of the compensation that would be due to Pellegrini.
Now the extent of that compensation has been revealed in a new report from France Football.
Sullivan and Gold-en handshake
France Football has published a list of the top 20 highest paid football managers in the game.
The calculations are produced by taking into account the bonuses earned from the 2018/19 campaign, the gross salary earned in 2019/20 and other public streams of revenue also earned over the latter period.
Pellegrini was the 12th highest paid boss in world football with a salary of £8million.
And according to France Football he picked up a cool £2million golden handshake after being axed.
An expensive vanity project
The pay-off figure alone is likely to be not too far removed from the sum Moyes is being paid for his entire 18-month contract.
Like when he joined West Ham the first time around, the Scot was in the footballer wilderness for the preceding 18 months.
What the report does highlight is that Pellegrini was an expensive vanity project from the owners.
With his salary and the unprecedented spend on players during his first summer in charge, West Ham looked to finally be splashing the kind of cash promised when the club left their beloved Upton Park for the London Stadium.
But the old saying proved true again, it’s not what you spend but how you spend it.
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