Sacked Crawley Town managing director Steve Duly has been awarded almost £35,000 for unfair dismissal as the crisis-hit football club considers going into administration.

Mr Duly, 35, told an employment tribunal he was forced out of his £28,600-a-year job soon after his father John sold the club to the SA Group last summer.

The group, led by Azwar Majeed and his bankrupt brother Chas, then launched a smear campaign, criticising Mr Duly's management skills and wrecking his chances of getting a new job, the Croydon tribunal heard.

He is the third former member of staff to successfully sue the club after being sacked, following in the footsteps of former manager Francis Vines and his assistant Dave Swindlehurst.

Mr Duly spent five months without a job after he was shown the door at Crawley Town last November and now has a casual job as an £11-an-hour sports club bar manager.

He said: "Chas Majeed went to the press and said I had left the club in a huge mess which has made it very difficult for me to find another senior job in the sports and leisure industry, where I have worked all my life.

"The last few months have been very traumatic."

Mr Duly, of Felbridge, near East Grinstead, was made managing director when his father John bought Crawley Town club in 1999 and oversaw all aspects of management in the most successful period of the team's history.

When the Majeeds bought the club for £600,000 last summer he was assured his job was safe as part of the conditions of sale, he said.

But days later the Majeeds reneged on the agreement, the tribunal heard.

Mr Duly said: "They told me they were bringing in a new general manager but were making me director of football and that I would be more involved in the playing side in terms of scouting and strategy."

Shortly afterwards former England captain and Brighton and Hove Albion manager Alan Mullery was drafted in as a consultant. Mr Duly said: "Effectively he was director of football and I no longer had a role."

That month his wages were docked £50-a-week with no explanation and Chas Majeed asked for his resignation, he added. When he refused he was ordered off the premises and told he was on "gardening leave."

He added: "They wanted me to take a £5,200 pay cut and change my contract."

In late January Mr Duly had received no communication from the club so submitted a formal grievance. Five days later he received his P45 in the post informing him his employment had ended on New Year's Eve, the tribunal heard. A week later he was amazed when he read a report in a newspaper in which Chas Majeed said he had inherited a mess from Mr Duly.

Mr Duly added: "There was a complete breakdown in trust and confidence and I resigned in late February, having not been paid for either January or February."

The tribunal found Mr Duly was wrongfully and unfairly sacked, the club had failed to follow statutory dismissal and grievance procedures and withheld £5,133 in wages plus £1,980 for holiday entitlement.

He was awarded £25,000 compensation, £2,115 for unfair dismissal plus a further statutory payment of £375.

Mr Duly said afterwards: "I feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

The Majeeds were not at the tribunal to contest the claim.

A statement issued by the club later said: "Steve Duly sold the club to the SA group but still wanted to maintain the same control and power of his position when he owned the club."

It added: "His decision to sue the club contradicts his claims to have the best interests of Crawley Town at heart because it is the club who will suffer the financial repercussions of his claim."

Crawley Town have admitted they are in serious financial trouble. The Nationwide Conference has docked them three points from this season's table and fined them £5,000 for exceeding their agreed annual players' budget.

Spokeswoman Gil Roberts said yesterday the club was considering administration.