Derby County owner Mel Morris has explained his decision to sack Richard Keogh but keep Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett.
He was asked what made him come to that decision at the 2019 Derby Telegraph Sports Awards, saying that sacking two players would “not be as simple as people think”.
Derby County owner Mel Morris explains that Keogh was sacked but Lawrence and Bennett retained by the club due to ‘financial implications’. https://t.co/vKYX6q16VD
— PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) November 8, 2019
Keogh was sacked following a car crash on the A6 near Allestree, but fans have been left furious after finding out that Lawrence or Bennett, who were both arrested for drink-driving, were able to stay at the club.
Keogh, a passenger in one of the cars, picked up a serious knee injury which ruled him out for around 15 months, leading to Derby decided to terminate his contract for “gross misconduct” after he refused to accept a pay cut.
The club said it “will not tolerate any of its players or staff behaving in a manner which puts themselves, their colleagues, and members of the general public at risk of injury or worse, or which brings the club into disrepute”.
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Morris told the audience: “I spent some time earlier this evening talking about sacrifice.
“And the point is, at the level we play at in professional football, it isn’t too much to ask that people sacrifice alcohol.
“That’s not too much to ask for.
“The challenge is this. I went into The Yard about a week after the incident to apologise to sponsors and to advertisers. And people said you don’t need to apologise. I said, I need to apologise. I have had parents ringing me up saying one of these guys has been at our school talking to my kids and that’s not right, it just doesn’t feel right so I have to apologise.
“Another guy who was completely drunk was poking me in the chest in The Yard and his attitude was these guys should all be fired.
“That was his attitude. And I was thinking, just stand back and say, so if you had any player, and I will talk hypothetically here, who had been out drinking and you said that automatically you are always going to fire them, the financial implications are a nightmare.
“But is it punishment in some cases? Because if you were a professional footballer and you knew that if you got drunk I would fire you, you could gain quite easily. Just go and get drunk Gary and I will release you from your contract.
“You then got to Leeds in January and on a free transfer and you are going to get a £1.5m signing bonus and £500,000 a year more salary. Is that punishment Gary?
“So it’s not as simple as people think when they think about these issues. And I actually think, in the case of two of the lads,they have to come out and face our crowd every game now and the only way they can improve on this is on the field, that’s all they can do.”
After finding out what Mel Morris had to say on his decision to sack Richard Keogh but not Mason Bennett and Tom Lawrence, fans took to Twitter to voice their reaction with many Leeds fans angry – see what they made of it on the next page.
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