Jake Livermore-Cokehead!

[northbank123]

What he must have gone through must have been pretty horrendous. Doesn't really give him carte blanche to piss around with recreational drugs mind and like others have pointed out the excuse would be unlikely to wash with your average employer. And you certainly wouldn't be let off completely. Can't pretend to know what he's been through so this is just speculation but I imagine that he was more likely to have been hoovering the Peruvian marching powder on a smash-up with the lads rather than on a quiet night in together with his missus as a grief-coping mechanism.

And whatever else it is just plain fucking stupid for somebody who knows they are likely to be drug tested to start railing lines of coke.

Bad example to let him off completely imo. Reduce the length of the ban by all means but he should have been punished. Football is lucky that it doesn't have drugs problems (which blight other sports) but drugs offences are still the most serious.

Lucky he was chucking class A up his nose rather than sending an angry tweet to somebody - that would have got him banned.

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

Andre Santos - Cakehead

[g88ner]

I must admit, I'm struggling with the timeline.

His baby died in May 2014 and he failed a drugs test in April 2015? So there's an 11 month gap?

It's bordering on Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm, territory, but how much time is allowed to pass before a tragic event and taking class A drugs is no longer considered mitigating circumstances?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHSIYGP0l_w

As northbank said, it's a strange world we live in where a tweet gets a longer ban than taking cocaine

Anyway, good luck to the lad. Hope he grabs this opportunity with both hands.

[g88ner]

How was the whole Mutu saga handled? Didn't follow football as closely back then so don't remember.

He was sacked.

Picked up on a free by Fiorentina, I think.

And the rest!

He got a lengthy ban by the FA and wasn't he also found guilty of breach of contract and ordered (even after 2 or 3 appeals) to pay >15m euros compensation to the chavs?

[northbank123]

How was the whole Mutu saga handled? Didn't follow football as closely back then so don't remember.

He was sacked.

Picked up on a free by Fiorentina, I think.

And the rest!

He got a lengthy ban by the FA and wasn't he also found guilty of breach of contract and ordered (even after 2 or 3 appeals) to pay >15m euros compensation to the chavs?

The reality is that the PFA are one of the most aggressive and unreasonable trade unions around. They obviously exist for the benefit of their members but some of the things they come out with are complete nonsense. They will defend footballers to the hilt no matter what the evidence against them is. Do footballers really need a trade union to represent them in dealings with the FA given that their club will always be fighting their corner along with an army of expensive lawyers? No, but smug pricks like Gordon Taylor and Clarke Carlisle need to feel important.

If he had been given a ban then Hull would probably have sacked him to save themselves a seven-figure sum. I imagine the PFA probably threatened the FA that they would savage them in the media if they punished him and really play on the dead kid angle and the FA took the easy option.