I thought it was just a matter of wanting an equal cut or something like that, at least according to him.
That's what I recall too. He was saying something like it wasn't split equally between the four or something along those lines. I think he was aiming it all at Sharon.
Here's my understanding:
Ward wanted to be THE drummer for the album and tour. No "co-drummer", no "drummer in the wings", no "drummer backstage". THE GUY. He wanted 25% of EVERYTHING, including writing and publishing credits, even though by most (if not all) accounts, the material was at least frameworked out before he ever got involved.
Everyone keeps blaming Sharon, but honestly, I'm pointing the finger at Tony Iommi. When it comes to Sabbath, Ozzy's involvement is tied to Sharon, but Sabbath as a unit doesn't fart without Tony's giving the A-ok. Even Geezer has sort of conceded the torch to Iommi, though because of the lyrical contributions, he does get a writing credit.
The fact is, this is an investment of YEARS, and TENS of millions of dollars. If you've got a guy that all three of the other guys do not believe can cut the mustard, it's not fair to them to hold them hostage over your petty gripes. In fact, I would imagine that the management - I don't mean Sharon, I mean the tour promoters, insurers, labor providers, etc. - have a say in this too; if I'm being asked to provide insurance for this tour, and they tell me that Bill Ward is a quarter of the endeavor, I'm saying "NOPE." Because my investment is now at multiples of risk from what it was.
Finally, everyone talks about the "fans". The "fans" this, and the "fans" that, but how happy are the fans going to be when they shelled out $125 for a ticket that is now unredeemable because the drummer had a heart attack and couldn't go on? Or that they shelled out $125 THINKING it was Bill and finding out it's some guy named Clusterfuck or whatever his name is? Think about the flack that James got for his voice after the food-poisoning incident. Do you think fans gave a fuck that he "toughed it out"?