I'm not privy to the details of contracts, you might be right, but I doubt most contracts will have 12 month exit clauses. Maybe for things like relegation, and maybe for the elite Clubs, but not for Division 3 clubs who finish mid table. Could be wrong like, but I imagine most will require the Club to pay up the contract, if they sack the manager.
We'll have got decent amounts for Struber and Val, suspect the fee for Duff is significantly less, given we're a league lower. But I still think the cost outweighs the short term windfall of that compo. The effect on the playing squad will be costly. Some players will now not sign / re-sign that may have done if the coach was staying, some will look elsewhere while we don't know who our coach is going to be, and the next coach will have different views to Duff which leads to paying all sorts of wages to players out on loan. Plus, every appointment is a bit of a gamble, eventually you'll end up with a dud, and the more frequently you change managers, the quicker the dud comes. I keep saying it, every other club manages to keep their coach after a successful first season. I can't think of a single club with a record as bad as us for this. Why are we such an outlier?