[Amnorix]

Are you aware of piolis ego?

If pioli knows he's going to get fired next year anyway, why would he stick around in a neutered environment when he can leave today with a huge buyout?

Sure, but the OP seems to be suggesting that Clark is trying to get him to quit, ostensibly to save money on Pioli's contract. That makes very little sense. I also think that unless Pioli had the worst lawyer ever, his contract says he can't be demoted or have his powers over football operations removed or else he can quit"for Good Reason" which means he gets paid just like he was fired. That is pretty standard stuff for very senior executives (so you can't make them choose between quitting and sweeping floors).