Jack Grealish ignores the rules of society, but will that be the end of it for him? - The Warm-Up
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Updated 31/03/2020 at 08:03 GMT
Jack Grealish was caught out being out this weekend, but will there be any further punishment for him being a great big silly dunce?
Jack Grealish of Aston Villa is consoled by Aston Villa manager Dean Smith during the Carabao Cup Final between Aston Villa and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on March 1, 2020 in London, England.
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Grealish apologises for ignoring his own advice, but will that be the end of it?
It was probably inevitable that one high-profile figure was going to expose themselves as a colossal dunce and ignore all advice to stay indoors apart from essential journeys. We confess we didn’t have Jack Grealish down as the one who would do it: everything about Grealish over the past year or so has concentrated on how responsible he is now after becoming Aston Villa captain, how much that’s changed him as a man and a player.
But even the newest of new leaves can be scuppered by the minor irritations of a pandemic the like of which we haven’t seen in 100 years. At the weekend Grealish could apparently cope with the isolation no more and took a trip out that we’re going to file under ‘non-essential’.
Of course we don’t know the exact circumstances, but what we do know is that a big white Range Rover ended up crashing into a couple of parked cars, and that Grealish was ‘at the scene’. Anything beyond that would probably be irresponsible speculation, but you can fill in the gaps if you like.
The inevitable apology video then came, via Twitter, with Grealish saying: “I don’t want anyone to make the same mistake that I did, so I obviously urge everyone to stay at home and follow the rules and the guidelines of what we’ve been asked to do. I know for a fact that I’ll be doing that in the near future now and I urge everyone to do the same.
“I hope everyone can accept my apology and we can move on from this. Hopefully obviously in the near future we can all be out enjoying ourselves again once this has all boiled over.”
Of course this is all the more jarring considering that Grealish’s previous tweet was a plea for everyone to stay at home and observe social distancing suggestions and so forth.
The interesting question about this is, even if we don’t know the exact circumstances, will there be any further repercussions for Grealish? This is the first high-profile incident in football of someone being this irresponsible (if you don’t count the Premier League intending to carry on with football until Mikel Arteta’s positive test, of course) since the government lockdown, so will anyone in the game choose to punish him for it? Aston Villa might fine him, the FA could admonish him, but we wonder if this will impact his standing with Gareth Southgate. Obviously the Euros aren’t an immediate factor, but Grealish’s form had suggested he would’ve been a shoo-in for the squad had it been required: will Southgate remember this when the time does come?
UEFA to chat about what the hell is going to happen
Perhaps it’s the despair of spending three weeks inside talking, but you do wonder if there’s any point in really discussing when football is going to come back at the moment. We don’t know, if we’re being responsible it’s still ages away, and there are more important things to be worrying about.
Still, UEFA’s 55 member states will have another of their House Party meetings on Wednesday to discuss the resumption of football, with a variety of options on the table. The prevailing intention is still apparently to finish this season before we get into any sort of sticky mess about next season, but the longer this goes on the more that starts to feel like a pipe dream.
Still, Aleksander Ceferin has plans, and he’s assigned letters to them, even if he did float the idea at the weekend that we might not be able to finish anything: “There is a plan A, B and C. We can start in May, in June or the end of June. If we can’t do it on any of those three dates then the season probably would be lost. There is also the possibility to finish the season at the start of next season, with next season starting a little late. It would have to work with respect to the players and the signing periods.”
Messi and the Barca players help out, but the politics continue
If you were being churlish you could say that it’s the absolute least they can do, but it was slightly heartening to hear Leo Messi confirm that Barcelona’s players are set to take a 70% pay cut and also “make contributions” to ensure that the club’s non-playing staff are paid during this crisis.
The question that does arise from those numbers is that if it requires these lavishly-paid players to take a 70% cut AND make contributions in order to keep the lights on, then this is not a football club being run in a very sensible manner.
But that’s a problem for them. What was also interesting is that, as ever with Barcelona, there can be no day when politics are not involved, so tacked onto Messi’s statement was the following ‘verbal broadside’ against his club’s suits.
A lot has been written and said about the football first team at Barcelona, when it comes to the players’ salaries during this state of alarm. First of all, we would like to clarify that we have always been willing to apply a wage cut, because we understand perfectly that this is an exceptional situation and we are always the first to help the club when we have been asked to. Indeed, we have often done so on our own initiative in those moments in which we have considered it important or necessary For that reason, we cannot help but be surprised by the fact that from within the club there are those trying to put us under the microscope or apply pressure for us to do something that we have always been clear that we would do. In fact, if an agreement has taken a few days to be reached it is simply because we were seeking a formula to help the club and also to help its employees in these very difficult times. If we did not speak publicly before, it was because our priority was to find real solutions that could truly help the club and also those who are going to be most affected by this situation
IN OTHER NEWS
In some ways it’s comforting to know that, even in the middle of this crisis, the language of football continues to be ludicrous.
IN THE CHANNELS
#SolemnKeysey
HAT TIP
Most owners see themselves as part of the entertainment industry. Broadcast media is merely a delivery method. Sponsorship deals are a form of brand placement. The money they bring in goes to pay for the players who, in turn, strengthen the brand, making it more valuable and thereby increasing the bottom line gain for the owners. In many cases, those gains are cash (or capital appreciation), in some they take the form of political clout or soft power, and in a few others, it’s ego. With a few exceptions, like FC United of Manchester, most match-going supporters accepted the change, at least in England.
For ESPN, Gab Marcotti discusses the theory of playing games behind closed doors to complete the Premier League season.
RETRO CORNER
On this day in 1995, Eric Cantona gets fishy.
SHOULD’VE BEEN COMING UP
There should have been a nice round of international friendlies this evening, including Germany v Italy and England v Denmark. Usually, most of us would have scoffed at the thought of enjoying or perhaps even watching such meaningless charades, but man what we wouldn’t give for a passe 1-1 draw in front of 80,000 apathetic schoolchildren and their parents.
After that melancholy note, Ben Snowball will be here tomorrow to pick your spirits up.
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