FORMER coach Francis Cummins today won his legal fight with Bradford Bulls after taking the club to court for wrongful dismissal.

The 38-year-old, who was the lowest-paid coach in the competition on an annual salary of £50,000, was sacked in June last year.

He had expected to be paid the remainder of the three-year contract he signed in September 2012.

But no settlement could be reached with Bulls owner Marc Green after he was dismissed and Judge Andrew Saffman ruled in Mr Cummins’ favour at the Leeds County Court hearing.

“I’m just happy to have won,” Mr Cummins told the Telegraph & Argus after the two-day-long case.

The Bulls will have to pay £20,000 in costs within the next 28 days and the club is expected to have to shell out about a further £30,000 in damages.

Mr Cummins was supported in the case by former Sports Minister and Bradford South Labour MP Gerry Sutcliffe, ex-Bulls' owner Omar Khan and former general manager Ryan Whitcut, who all gave evidence on his behalf.

Mr Green took the witness stand today and said he had lost faith in Mr Cummins following a 46-18 defeat at Salford last June.

Mr Green sacked Mr Cummins the following day and told the court: “People were calling for Mr Cummins’ head and other board members were calling for Mr Cummins’ head.

“I resisted going down that route for a number of reasons but when we played at Salford, within the first eight minutes we had lost the game.

“He had lost the dressing room and lost the players, and therefore there was no place for him.”

Martin Budworth served as counsel for Mr Cummins, having successfully represented Keith Mason in a high-profile case against Huddersfield Giants in 2013.

Mr Budworth accused the defence legal team of an “ambush” tactic after it today submitted evidence from Daniel Krigers, a solicitor at Chadwick Lawrence, which suggested that Mr Cummins had been offered a 12-month contract by Yorkshire Carnegie with an annual salary of £34,000 from June 1 this year.

Judge Saffman allowed the evidence to be submitted and a phone call to Mr Cummins' agent David Howes ascertained that he had been offered a contract “in principle”.

But the judge eventually found in Mr Cummins’ favour, leaving Mr Green to ponder a possible appeal.

After the case, Mr Green told the T&A: “We are disappointed with the outcome as we believe we had a justifiable case and we’re now going to take stock of our position and will make it clear in due course.”