Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney clocked up only four years of bliss in his second marriage to Heather Mills. Their divorce is expected to return to the courts in February after attempts to reach a settlement failed. Lady McCartney is understood to be in line for a pay-off estimated at between €30m and €100m.

Sporting failure can be equally lucrative. This year British tennis player Tim Henman finally admitted defeat in his annual quest to win Wimbledon. His post-playing career earnings though will top €8.2m. Less genteel is the world of football, where last month José Mourinho, the Portuguese manager is thought to have picked up a €25m pay-off when he left Chelsea football club by 'mutual consent' with under three years left on his €7.5m-a-year contract. Although he picked up two consecutive Premiership titles, but the club's Russian owner Roman Abramovich thought the team was not playing withenough flair.

The Football Association meanwhile has consistently paid over the odds for 40 years of failure. Present manager Steve McClaren, whose tenure looks increasingly tenuous, will walk away with €4m if he is sacked after less than a year in the job.

His predecessor, the Swedish coach Sven Goran Eriksson, pocketed a €5m pay-off following England's inglorious World Cup exit last year, despite being caught trying to jump ship by a tabloid. Now installed as the €3.5m-a-year manager of Manchester City, the FA continued to pay Eriksson €19,000 a day until he started his new job this July.

They would do well to employ him for future negotiations. Tabloid reports said the Swede had offered ex-lover Nancy Dell' Olio only €750,000 from his €35m fortune to get out of his life. Now that would have been a result.