It's an interesting situation

If you had to be physically restrained from steaming in on a client who slagged off your work, you'd be out the door on no pay and almost certainly fired at a disciplinary meeting, regardless of whether you've had a bad day or not.

Rightly or wrongly, as you say, he has come to symbolise everything that is wrong with the club in the 18 months or so to Sunday. And not only is he already regarded as a pariah by a significant element of the fans, he has made himself an even bigger target for some and at the same time eroded any sympathy that other fans might have for him.

At the very least I would expect him to be dropped and transfer-listed, however this will cost us 3 months wages for him to do nothing until the transfer window opens (Unless we can kick him out on loan). He's got to move one way or another (IMO), he'll cost us money until he does, and what he has done certainly qualifies as Gross Misconduct.

Similarly the same arguement could be made for charmers like Joey Barton, who has gotten away with a variety of drunken attacks on players and fans...but on the other hand, Dennis Wise was sacked by Millwall for punching a team-mate. It seems to hinge on the integrity of the board and the popularity and value of the player, rightly or wrongly.

I don't envy the decision the board have to make, because it will be dissected from all angles according to everyone's individual prejudices, and they're likely to cop it from some whatever they do.

Posted By: Iwan Husarmi, Oct 3, 19:08:54