Strangely enough, the Evening Post article was nowhere near the sports pages but tucked away in the front part of the newspaper albeit with quite a large photo of Joel Stransky.

From what's been reported so far, it sounds very much as though the whole thing is turning into a "my word against your word" type situation.

Stransky claims that Nick de Scossa offered him a verbal deal over dinner at a French restaurant (Le Beaujolais in Bath). Bob Dwyer has given evidence that de Scossa arranged for the three of them to meet at the restaurant.

However, de Scossa claimed in court that it didn't happen. He was in the restaurant but dined separately and only met the former Springbok briefly after his meal.

Stransky also claims that the deal was struck as far back as April 10th 2000 although he he was fairly cagey about his employment intentions because he didn't want to upset people connected with Leicester Rugby Club.

A Bristol spokesman was quoted recently as follows:

"We already had Dean Ryan as player-coach. Stransky's work permit was nearly expired and the RFU indicated it would not be renewed. We told Bob not to offer Stransky, but he did it anyway."

"I don't think that Joel had anything on paper but he believes that he has a sufficiently strong verbal agreement. The club denied his claim from the start. The offer was not made by anybody in the position to do so."

Former Chief executive Nick De Scossa yesterday admitted at London's High Court that he gave director of rugby Bob Dwyer permission to speak to Mr Stransky - but said no offer was ever put to the South African.

This one could run for a while yet. There's a lot at stake - Stransky is claiming about £150k plus interest.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon