While the decision was perhaps inevitable in the aftermath of such a publicly damaging episode, it does leave the question why did the club bother with the inquiry?
The two players had given the club their notice, claiming that the behaviour of Kenny Wharton and Peter Beardsley towards them constituted a breach of contract, but the inquiry decided that their claims were groundless and that they remained under contract.
But if the club’s intention was always to get rid of the pair surely they could have saved themselves a lot of time, money and bad publicity by simply letting them leave in return for the signing of a confidentiality agreement.
The two promising stars won’t fetch massive fees and it seems that the only real effect of the whole incident is to damage the reputation of the club, the coaches, the players and their families.
And now with the dust settling the club will still lose two of its most biggest young talents.