(John Takemura is a LaTrobe University journalism student and BPL Citizen Journalist.)

Is a contract really worth the paper it's written on?

The sudden and acrimonious sacking of Newcastle Jets' coach Branko Culina last week raises the question: why would anyone want to be a coach? Particularly, when a contract can be broken whenever a club sees fit.

Culina was given his marching orders by the Jets just five days before the start of the new Hyundai A-League campaign and only hours after he fronted the season launch discussing the chances of his team. Presumably, the decision to sack him was made prior to that appearance.

There was, on the face of it, no reason to sack Culina. The club was looking good on the field, having gone through pre-season undefeated.

And here was a man, who only last October when billionaire mining magnate Nathan Tinkler and his Hunter Sports Group (HSG) saved the Jets from financial oblivion, was offered a contract extension till 2015. 

At the heart of the decision appears to be the knee injury suffered by his son Jason earlier in pre-season, which has ruled out him out of the entire campaign. Culina Jnr had signed a deal believed to be worth $2.7 million over three years to become the club's marquee player.

This injury was different to the ailment Culina suffered during the Asian Cup in January, one that forced him to miss the rest of the A-League season with his former club Gold Coast United. However, as the injury affected the same knee, the insurance policy wouldn't cover the cost of surgery.

The Jets have claimed that Culina's playing future is now in doubt and asked for his contract to be ‘set aside'. This would mean Tinkler would not have to pay out his contract.

The club has offered no compensation to either man, which doesn't seem right. After all, the Jets' football advisory board were responsible for bringing Jason to the club, not his father Branko. This much was admitted by the head of the board, Ray Baartz, in mid-September.

The club claimed it carried out due diligence in investigating Jason's previous injury.

But now that he has suffered this new injury, the board has apparently decided to wash its hands of Culina - and his father at the same time.

To me, it seems like blatant incompetence on the Jets part.

According to figures released earlier this week by the League Managers Association (LMA), which represent managers in the English Premier League and Football League, the cost of compensation in changing managers amounted to £99m during the 2010-11 campaign. This seems an extraordinary amount of money to pay out sacked coaches.

The LMA also announced that 58 managers had lost their jobs last season. Between October 2010 and February 2011, 25 clubs opted to sack their 'gaffer'. This hire-and-fire culture is clearly not a healthy thing for the sport.

But, one of the most interesting facts in the report was that Championship (First Division) managers who were sacked in 2010-11 had an average tenure of less than a year.

These are obviously not encouraging statistics if you are seeking long-term job security. They show that there needs to be a bit more realism by owners in reaching their on-field goals.

Sir Alex Ferguson, who has been in charge of Manchester United for almost 25 years, sees the lack of managerial job security as one of the game's biggest problems.

"It's always a problem in modern-day management," Ferguson said. "You see time and time again that these guys are only in a position a year before the clubs are sacking them."

As someone who has been in a role the length of time he has, and produced such incredible success along the way, few people are better than Ferguson to talk about such issues.