Lawrence and Bennett Convicted of drink driving

[King Kevin]

23 minutes ago, CHCDerby said:

I think the club have handled it the best they can up to this point.

They had to make a statement as quickly as they could. They had to defend their employees in the first instance until a full investigation has taken place (both police and internal). 

Depending on the outcome, they may have no choice but to terminate their contracts. Depending on the outcome, they may never want to wear a Derby shirt again because their reception will always be the same even if they score a winner against forest. 

I don't ever remember something quite as bad from any other club across the globe where it involves so many players. This is probably as bad as it gets. 

Not sure how they handle Huddlestone being captain after the video release.

[Edtheram]

8 minutes ago, erathirea said:

Two things I'd like to talk about.

1. People saying things like "second thoughts about supporting the club/feeling sick/embarrassed etc". I understand saying that, in the heat of the moment- but remember- at the moment this is 3 (maybe a few more) players doing something unbelievably stupid. 3 players. 3 players are NOT bigger than the club. Even if it's 5 players, 7 players etc. The club is bigger than any number of individuals. "Oh, but the club have backed them to do rehabilitation". Yes - of course they have. There is a limit to what they can say whilst criminal proceedings are underway, but they have already come out and said they will follow an internal disciplinary process. That may involve dismissal (but they can't say that outright), or it may be a suspension etc. - especially whilst the feeling is raw, I wouldn't expect anything concrete to come out. Take Lawrence, for example. None of us know how he's been feeling lately. He's had a tough year, but that doesn't condone what he did. But if he comes out, requests a month or two off, to attend therapy, to get his mind back in the right place, apologises, etc... it would be foolish for the club to say "nope, we've decided, within 18 hours, that you'll never play again for us". Especially as they are currently trying to piece together the evening themselves - they probably know more than us, but they don't know everything yet (at least I highly doubt it). They need to give themselves room for maneuver.

 

2. The stick that Huddlestone is getting. Let's separate a few things. What do we know for certain, at this point?

1- That a video was taken, in which Tom can be heard, and Bennett can be seen in a very bad state.

2- that he sent the video, on *SNAPCHAT* of all things to at least one other person, who has given it to the Mirror (for anyone unaware, the way snapchat works is that you send a picture/video to someone, and when they open it, and view it, it deletes it.)

We don't know

    a) if this was definitely from Tuesday night

    b) what time the video was taken

    c) whose phone was used - was this Mason's phone and Hudds was doing it to teach him a lesson - we don't know?

    d) the reason the video was taken - was it to embarrass him on the Thursday morning at training as a bit of a laugh? - I know I've taken photos/videos of drunk friends to remind them of how foolish they were

    e) How late Huddlestone stayed out

    f) that Huddlestone had any idea that they were going to be stupid later on

    g) That Tom was actually the person who sent the video - again, we don't know whose phone that was

    h) When he sent the video - he may have taken it and sent it to a couple of mutual friends at 7pm - one of said "friends" doesn't see the message until the following morning, and has already heard about the crash - opens it and stores the video with a screen capture program (NB- This is the ONLY way that the Mirror could have got a hold of the video unless Tom sent it to them directly)

    i) Another thing- he could have taken the video, and sent it to Mason ONLY. Mason doesn't look at his phone for obvious reasons - next day, his girlfriend/wife/sibling/concerned friend/opportunistic companion etc finds the video and decides to teach him a lesson.

 

More information will come out, and initial reactions will calm. Punishments will be given, and taken, and eventually we will all move on.

 

Derby County will endure.

On the footage of the video mate the Snapchat names says "TH". If TH put this on his story people can view it as many times as they want for 24 hours. Also, if he only sent it to people, they could have an app downloaded which makes it possible for them to screen record such a thing as Snapchat also gives you on replay of a picture or video sent to you a day. He was a pillock for recording it and sending it, the guy needs to grow up. Hes hardly performing well on game days.

[Day]

Just took the dog for a walk, did not hesitate for a second to pull on a jacket with a Ram on the chest as I usually do.

I’m not ashamed by the club, nor am I embarrassed. I am ashamed, embarrassed and disappointed by those individuals that represent our club and still struggling to get my head around what they have done.

It is clear the club do not condone this, nor have they encouraged it. A team bonding day/night that takes place at clubs up and down the country, nights that this club has ran without issues on many occasions before. 

Right now I’m desperately trying to find a way to get down tomorrow and show support to the club at a time when we and the rest of the team need it the most.

This isn’t a time to distance ourselves, remove ourselves from the club, I am a Ram, a proud one and will not let the actions of a small number of players change that. 

If any opposition fans want to mock, laugh, think this is “our club”, duck them, the club is more than these individuals. 

[Mostyn6]

17 minutes ago, Smyth_18 said:

Jesus Christ. On this logic nobody would ever be done for any crimes. ?

tell me about it. I once witnessed a brutal robbery, and followed the robbers, whilst on the phone to the police. When I saw the police car turn up, I went home and didn't witness the actual arrest of the two geezers that did it.

Cos they never advised me to witness the arrest, I had to go and watch DVD ID parade, but both blokes had cut their hair, shaved and changed clothes ahead of posing for the ID DVD. I pointed out that neither were wearing the distinctive clothes that I identified, and was told that legally the identification of clothing is not admissable except where forensics and DNA (rapes and murders etc) is involved.

Word of advice, if you ever witness a crime and can... watch until you see them being arrested. As both these guys said they'd found the money, phones, watches etc (that they'd robbed) and were on their way to the police station to hand them in! (even though going in opposite direction to nearest station). As it happened, they'd smashed a glass bottle into the face of a student on a different robbery about 20 mins before the one I saw, and there ended up being some DNA to convict them.

[Bald Eagle's Barmy Army]

6 minutes ago, King Kevin said:

Not sure how they handle Huddlestone being captain after the video release.

Again, we don't know the full story and until we do, we back the club at this point. 

[Hinzy9]

46 minutes ago, RamNut said:

My conclusion is that all three should be suspended for gross misconduct, and huddlestone should be made to run around allestree park on his own for a few weeks.

 

So just one lap then?

[Bald Eagle's Barmy Army]

3 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

tell me about it. I once witnessed a brutal robbery, and followed the robbers, whilst on the phone to the police. When I saw the police car turn up, I went home and didn't witness the actual arrest of the two geezers that did it.

Cos they never advised me to witness the arrest, I had to go and watch DVD ID parade, but both blokes had cut their hair, shaved and changed clothes ahead of posing for the ID DVD. I pointed out that neither were wearing the distinctive clothes that I identified, and was told that legally the identification of clothing is not admissable except where forensics and DNA (rapes and murders etc) is involved.

Word of advice, if you ever witness a crime and can... watch until you see them being arrested. As both these guys said they'd found the money, phones, watches etc (that they'd robbed) and were on their way to the police station to hand them in! (even though going in opposite direction to nearest station). As it happened, they'd smashed a glass bottle into the face of a student on a different robbery about 20 mins before the one I saw, and there ended up being some DNA to convict them.

Reading that was like I was in a documentary. I wanted it to end knowing their jail term though. 

[SouthStandRamma]

Some people are massively overreacting to this. Yes, it’s not great, but finding another club? Jesus. Plastic fans the lot of you who are considering this. 

As for Huddlestone, no proof he was in the car, and who doesn’t take drunk videos of their mates? He probably had no idea what was about to happen that night, and went home sensibly at 8pm like the rest. I do think some people need to get a grip.

Ultimately it’ll be dealt with, and you’ll all still happily turn up in the thousands when we get another Wembley day out? 

[BondJovi]

What a mess. You do reap what you sow. For the last 5 years the only people taking responsibility for what happens on the pitch have been the managers. Only two matches ago our manager said he was ashamed of a first half performance by the players. Does this look like the actions of a group players desperate to prove him or the fans wrong? 

It looks to me like players have been taking liberties for far too long and it has finally caught up with them. Interestingly enough it also happens to be some of our longest serving players. There has been a lot of trust in these players and far less in the managers. Time that was reversed.

[therealhantsram]

50 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

The witnesses would be stand-alone and not to back up the video. There’s nothing to prove that the drink wasnt non-alcoholic beer and they werent acting drunk. Clothing (appearance wise) cannot be used as evidence. Clothing is generally mass produced and can be worn more than once. 

I am not saying witnesses won’t help the prosecution case, just the video in isolation proves nothing. 

Yeah, those are all arguments a defence lawyer might try and use. I doubt they would be successful.

[Boycie]

Some massive double standards going off with our fans.

It wasn’t that long ago that the majority of the first team squad got drunk in Duffield.

Who paid the bar bill?

The Derby County first team manager!

Who moaned about that?

How do we know nobody drove home drunk that night?

I’m not condoning what happened on Tuesday, but some people have selective memory.

 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

Just now, Boycie said:

Some massive double standards going off with our fans.

It wasn’t that long ago that the majority of the first team squad got drunk in Duffield.

Who paid the bar bill?

The Derby County first team manager!

Who moaned about that?

How do we know nobody drove home drunk that night?

I’m not condoning what happened on Tuesday, but some people have selective memory.

 

I think I put any nagging concerns to the back of my mind because of how exciting that time was. But I think I was a little uncomfortable with it deep down.

[GenBr]

10 hours ago, Mckram said:

Anybody know the min and max punishments in their case?

I’d have thought that jail is very unlikely but I guess if the judge wants to make an example then this would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

I’d take a guess on a 2/3 year ban, suspended sentence, huge fine and lots of community service? 

 

I think the fine can be any amount - there is no limit. Hopefully its gigantic. In theory they could be imprisoned as well, but likely wont happen being footballers. Driving ban is only a year though.

[ariotofmyown]

20 minutes ago, SouthStandRamma said:

Some people are massively overreacting to this. Yes, it’s not great, but finding another club? Jesus. Plastic fans the lot of you who are considering this. 

As for Huddlestone, no proof he was in the car, and who doesn’t take drunk videos of their mates? He probably had no idea what was about to happen that night, and went home sensibly at 8pm like the rest. I do think some people need to get a grip.

Ultimately it’ll be dealt with, and you’ll all still happily turn up in the thousands when we get another Wembley day out? 

Who is up for getting absolutely smashed before our next Wembley day out? 

[Boycie]

2 minutes ago, ariotofmyown said:

Who is up for getting absolutely smashed before our next Wembley day out? 

No phones though.

[RandomAccessMemory]

1 hour ago, King Kevin said:

Might not apply to last week ,but it might explain why Derby have a propensity to not turn up on a regular basis.

I can already see that this is going to be brought up every time we have a bad performance, whether jokingly or not.

I think that would be unfair on the members of the squad who weren't involved with what happened, they were sensible, we shouldn't criticise them for something the others did, they deserve our support, they've also been let down by the ones involved, it puts them under a spotlight that they shouldn't be under just because they're team mates.

Teams and players can have bad performances, they happen, it doesn't mean they've been out getting drunk in the middle of the week before.

[SouthStandRamma]

Think lots of plastics are using this event as an excuse to find another club. They only started supporting us just after we beat Brighton in the semis, after all? 

[Smyth_18]

Completely agree with 'the club is more than a few people' sentiment in reply to people not wanting to support the club anymore.

On the other hand, i'm not entirely comfortable with going to support this team. Or any modern footballer for that matter. I look at heroes from other sports (earning a lot less money may i add) and they devote their whole lives to it. They study the champions mindset. They work to be the very best day in, day out.
I don't see that in the modern footballer any more. The odd player gives me hope such as the young Rochdale lad, but as he earns more money, his ego will likely grow and he will go the same way as the rest of them. (Sorry to be so judgemental, but that just happens).

Football is rapidly dying with the rest of society. No wonder there is a mental health epidemic.

[observer]

11 hours ago, GrimsbyRam said:

On a serious note if there are insurances polices to cover injuries (I know this was something we never used to have in place), I wonder if any circumstances could invalidate the claim

if there is a criminal element to it the club may still be covered, but imagine the insurance can sue the person deemed responsble, for injury.

That would cover keogh

as for the other not sure you can get insurance cover for staff being '********' there may be some wage cover that can be put in place similar to a key man insurance policy I have at work.

 

One thing people havent spoke about here is how much this has the potential to indirectly cost the club millions which directly affects FFP.

[Sidd10]

42 minutes ago, David said:

Just took the dog for a walk, did not hesitate for a second to pull on a jacket with a Ram on the chest as I usually do.

I’m not ashamed by the club, nor am I embarrassed. I am ashamed, embarrassed and disappointed by those individuals that represent our club and still struggling to get my head around what they have done.

It is clear the club do not condone this, nor have they encouraged it. A team bonding day/night that takes place at clubs up and down the country, nights that this club has ran without issues on many occasions before. 

Right now I’m desperately trying to find a way to get down tomorrow and show support to the club at a time when we and the rest of the team need it the most.

This isn’t a time to distance ourselves, remove ourselves from the club, I am a Ram, a proud one and will not let the actions of a small number of players change that. 

If any opposition fans want to mock, laugh, think this is “our club”, duck them, the club is more than these individuals.