GDFL 2023: Former North Geelong coach Michael Boothey set to sue club

A sacked local footy coach is planning on taking legal action against his old side after the board terminated his contract six months into a two-year deal.

North Geelong is set to be sued by its former head coach over a contract dispute. Picture: Mark Wilson

A sacked local footy coach is planning on taking legal action against his old side after the board terminated his contract six months into a two-year deal.

Michael Boothey joined North Geelong at the end of the 2022 season, taking over from Mark Hounslow, who also had his two-year contracted terminated in the first season at the helm of the club.

Boothey had initially signed a two-year deal with an option for a third year, but the North Geelong board opted to terminate his contract after just nine games.

The board allegedly cited a lack of improvement from the Magpies team, which had gone winless and had just lost to Anakie in round 9.

Sacked: Michael Boothey is suing his former club after his two-year deal was terminated.

Boothey said he had been “completely cut off” from the club, with board members blocking the former coach on all forms of social media and reportedly telling the players he had mutually agreed to an exit.

“They blocked me from every social media that the club is associated with, so I couldn’t access anything, I presume they didn’t want me to tell anyone or talk to people,” he said.

“I had players texting me that week saying ‘what is going on, you’ve stepped down’, and I had to say no, that I had been sacked.

“I still had a set of keys to the club rooms, so I said I could drive down and drop off the keys and grab my contract, since I didn’t have a copy.

“I told them I wanted to go down and watch the game against Werribee Centrals and we could do a swap over of the keys, and he (Darren Vandenberg, club president) said ‘don’t contact me, don’t come near me.’

“Instead they said they did not wish for me to come to the club in person and instead to mail the club keys to a P.O. Box.”

Boothey has employed legal services to help recoup his lost salary from the remaining 18 months of the contract, with the former coach alleging the club’s refusal to pay out his deal.

He said he was set to have a mid-year review before round 10, but instead received a phone call from Vandenberg to end his contract.

“They gave me a call on the Sunday and they said they were sacking me, we had no conversations before that, they gave me no warnings, no talk about us needing to win games,” he said.

“My contract payments were split up into two payments each season, so I’ve received one out of the four for the first two years, but they said they were not going to pay out the rest of the contract.

“I’ve been around footy clubs for 40 years and I’ve never been treated this badly.”

This publication has seen the coaching contract and there are no provisions that allow the club to terminate the deal early without paying out the deal.

Boothey claims he has tried to get in contact with the club on multiple occasions to discuss a settlement, but he had been “completely ignored” by members of the board.

The club has refused to comment on the story.

New North Geelong coach Ayden George Picture: Mark Wilson

Former coach Ayden George, who stepped down at the end of the 2021 season, was reappointed by the Magpies as the interim head coach, with the club facing a winless season going into round 18.

Boothey said he was open to returning to football coaching in 2024, but not at the helm of a club.

“I don’t think I could take a senior coaching job again, at least not in the next few seasons,” he said.

“I would be open to doing some junior development coaching or an assistant role somewhere, but I don’t think I could be in charge.

“I haven’t been treated like this in all my time involved in footy.”

Originally published as GDFL 2023: Former North Geelong coach Michael Boothey set to sue club