IN HIS second week as St Kilda Football Club chief executive Archie Fraser called a crisis meeting with coach Grant Thomas to try to mend his fractured relationship with the board.

"I felt we had no chance of securing a premiership, based on the dysfunctional nature of the club and specifically the relationship between Mr Thomas and the board," Fraser told the County Court yesterday.

Over brunch in Brighton in July, the pair struck a deal.

Fraser said Thomas agreed to drop an annual leave claim.

The club agreed to pay a $15,000 fine issued by the AFL over comments Thomas made about umpires, and Thomas promised to meet AFL umpires director Jeff Gieschen to make amends, Fraser said.

But it wasn't enough. Just two months later, on September 11, St Kilda president Rod Butterss and director Glen Casey told Fraser that Thomas was to be sacked, and he should call the coach to a meeting at Butterss' Brighton home the next day.

Thomas is suing St Kilda Football Club for failing to pay $100,000 he claims the club promised him as a hush-up severance payment. He is also demanding about $90,000 he says he is owed in leave entitlements.

Thomas was paid $270,000 — six months' salary — in lieu of notice.

Leslie Glick, QC, for St Kilda, said Thomas was entitled to a payout of only 4½ months' salary, but the club was generous in giving him six months'.

He said the additional $100,000 included a confidentiality agreement with Thomas and an agreement for him not to poach St Kilda players if he moved to another club. But Thomas said it was to buy his silence.

The case, before Judge Katherine Bourke, will resume next week.