Surely this cannot be true

[Dagger03]

From the Thurrock Gazette - it also appears on the Grays web site.

 

Club forced to pay thousands to disgraced crook footballer

Exclusive By Neil Speight

 

 

GRAYS Athletic have been forced to pay five months wages to convicted criminal and disgraced footballer S--------.

 

An FA disciplinary panel has ruled they must pay the cash to S-----, a high-profile signing at the start of last season who eventually only played in one pre-season friendly for the club.

 

Days after that he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to rob and in December last year found guilty. In April this year he got eight years in jail for his part in a raid in which 41-year-old father-of-one was murdered.

 

The FA have ruled that Grays were in breach of FA regulations by terminating his contract prior to his conviction and they have been forced to pay him wages, believed to be in the region of £14,000.

 

A Grays Athletic spokesman said: "Mr S----- had only played one game before being arrested in relation to an offence which happened prior to Mr S---- joining us.

 

"When he was arrested Mr S----- falsely stated to the club that he was being held on remand due to motoring offences.

advertisement

 

advertisement "Once the full details of the offence were disclosed Mr S----- was served with 14 days notice of termination of his contract which was cleared by the Football Conference. Mr Sestanovich appealed against this through the FA which ruled in his favour."

 

During the FA hearing Grays Athletic secretary pointed out the current FA players contract does not cover disclosure of information, the panel agreed that this issue needs to be discussed further and debated on to ensure that no other club finds its self in a similar situation.

 

However, Grays Athletic have been given until December 31, 2007 to pay the disputed part of his contract, which is approximately five months salary.

 

 

S---- joined a year after the bungled raid in which Mr F---- was murdered by S----'s co-conspirators. Ironically the aim of the robbers was to steal £11,000, less than the footballer has got from Grays. The robbery failed when have a go hero chased the raiders and was shot.

 

Grays' spokesman added: "Much as it sticks in our craw to have to pay a substantial amount of money to a convicted criminal who did nothing for this football club, we might have understood it better had we been asked to pay it to the family of the victim of this crime.

 

"Perhaps Mr S---- might have a pang of conscience and do the decent thing and, if he is at all remorseful rather than greedy, ask us to do just that!"

 

1:24pm Tuesday 26th June 2007

[Eastside Urchin]

British justice.You can't beat it!!

Labour government psycho monkey,Ain't it great!

[Uncle Urchin]

they can get it overturned in the high court..the fa have no juristiction there and the minute he lied to the club he was in breach of his contract responsibilities...

 

fckn joke really...

[Dagger03]

>>>they can get it overturned in the high court..the fa have no juristiction there and the minute he lied to the club he was in breach of his contract responsibilities...

 

Yes, it is attempting to gain a pecuniary advantage by deception - there is no indication on the Grays web site whether they intend to appeal. I am absolutely amazed at the FA ruling.

 

More to the point, if the player was arrested and held in custody (don't know if he was in custody or on bail), then he could not have fulfilled his responsibilities to the club anyway.