The £2.2m own goal
Premier League success put up my divorce bill, says club chief
PROMOTION to the ultra-rich top tier of English football was quite an achievement for a club that had almost dropped out of the league just a few years earlier.
And one of the key figures in the rise of Swansea City to the Premier League was its millionaire chairman Huw Jenkins.
But it proved something of an own goal for Mr Jenkins because, he claims, it inflated his divorce bill to £2.25million – and now he is suing his solicitors over the size of the payout.
Mr Jenkins, 56, separated from Sian, 50, in February 2011 – four months before his club was promoted. .
The former building company boss claims that at the time he was told by his legal team that his finances were ‘not stable enough’ to reach a financial settlement with his wife.
But his wealth massively increased when his club won promotion in June 2011.
His financial position ‘improved significantly’, according to court papers, thanks to the increase in the value of his shares in Swansea City. When the divorce was finally settled in 2017, Mr Jenkins was ordered to pay a £2.25million lump sum.
Mr Jenkins claims the solicitors should have been aware that his financial situation was likely to improve if Swansea City won promotion. He also says he should have been advised to start divorce proceedings before the ‘change in his circumstances’ as his team began winning.
In his legal action, Mr Jenkins said he had also transferred assets – believed to be the family home – and made periodical payments to his ex-wife, with whom he has two daughters, Sophie and Isobelle.
Mr Jenkins, who was awarded an OBE in 2015, was given the advice by John Collins & Partners LLP, which started trading as JCP solicitors in 2010. He brought the claim against JCP Solicitors and asked for £2.25million in losses. But JCP was not officially incorporated as a company until 2014, so the firm claims it did not provide any advice before 2015. It also claims that if Mr Jenkins had brought divorce proceedings in 2011 it would not have resulted in a quicker or lower settlement.
In ‘particulars of claim’ lodged with the courts he said the firm failed to advise him that ‘should Swansea City AFC gain promotion to the Premier League he should immediately consider issuing divorce proceedings to minimise the potential claim against him by Sian’.
The judge, Mrs Justice O’Farrell, said Mr Jenkins caused no prejudice in failing to name the correct firm and the case can proceed. A spokesman for JCP Solicitors said: ‘We are obviously disappointed that a claim, which we consider has no merit, has been allowed to continue, albeit in part.
‘Mr Jenkins didn’t follow protocol and issued proceedings out of the blue after failing to undertake even the most basic of litigation checks. The recent judgment requires Mr Jenkins to plead his case again. If and when he re-pleads … we will consider the new case and will continue to defend it vigorously.’ Mr Jenkins stepped down as chairman of Swansea in February. He had been criticised by some Swansea supporters over the takeover of the club in 2016 by American investors. Calls for him to go intensified after the club returned to the Championship last season. He was appointed chairman in January 2002 and oversaw a huge reversal in fortunes. The club almost dropped out of the Football League in 2003 before rising to win Premier League promotion in 2011.
‘We’ll defend the case vigorously’