Norwich City steward wins £8k after being wrongfully sacked

Gennaro Romano, 49, works for the Royal Mail but was also a steward at Carrow Road on matchdays for 12 years until he was fired in October 2023.

He had randomly forwarded mocked-up images of Diane Abbott and Nicola Sturgeon – alongside comments about Russell Brand – to Neil Hunter, head of the Canaries’ operations.

The first attachment was a mock-up image of the ex-Scottish First Minister Sturgeon holding a sign that read ‘Russel Brand touched my c***’.

The second image showed Labour MP Diane Abbott holding a placard that said ‘I was alone with Russell Brand and he never touched me’.

Russell Brand was at the centre of several media reports detailing sexual assault allegations (Image: PA/ Yui Mok)

An employment tribunal heard how he admitted the photos were “not nice” and apologised several times, explaining he had meant to forward them to a close friend with the same first name as his boss.

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Nicola Sturgeon was in one of the images (Image: PA)

But the club claimed he had not shown “sufficient understanding or remorse” and sacked him for breaching its disciplinary policies. 

“This was at the time when the media was reporting that allegations of sexual assault were being made against Russell Brand,” the tribunal said.

The other picture featured Diane Abbott (Image: PA/ Jonathan Brady)

Upholding Mr Romano’s claim, the tribunal said the club’s decision-making process had been “riddled with unfairness”.

“It was not one which any reasonable employer would have taken,” it added.

Describing the club’s actions, the tribunal said: “If the club intends its disciplinary policy to have such an extensive, some might say Orwellian, reach, then it is incumbent on it to make that position clear.”

The tribunal awarded Mr Romano £8,300.

His claim of race discrimination was dismissed.

Norwich City Football Club has been contacted for comment.