Jake Livermore has been ruled out of Hull's final two games of the season. He failed a random drug test after their 2-0 victory over Palace, having tested positive for cocaine. The club are due to make a statement soon. What makes this worse is that the stuff clears your system very quickly. He must've been taking it within a couple of days of the game. Might explain his **** form. Wonder if anyone else is involved? Hope it's no more of our lot. Edit: Hull actually beat Palace. I thought they'd lost, for some reason. Are those points at risk?
Curtis Davies retweeting Leon Knight's comment about the testers being tipped off is a bit of a giveaway, though! Huddlestone's supposed to be very good mates with Livermore, so he can expect to be under a lot of scrutiny now.
I feel sympathy for Steve Bruce. He's a good bloke who is having a wretched season and he deserves better than one of his main players screwing up like this.
From Twitter: "Hearing that the Hull midfielder said he had to choose between cocaine and alcohol, saying: "I respect my brain but I value my Livermore"".
What a moron! Here he has the chance to make a career and a load of money by doing what most of us do - or did, for fun, and throws it away!
Sheffield United's Jose Baxter has been suspended after a drugs test discovered a banned substance in his sample. He's denied any wrongdoing and there's no mention of what the substance was. The former Evertonian was tested as part of routine out-of-competition procedure, apparently. I wonder if this is something of a clampdown or it's just coincidence?
It was apparently very stupid of him, but I have a lot of sympathy for people who do very stupid things as long as they don't hurt anyone else.
Wolves goalkeeper Aaron McCarey has also failed an out of competition drugs test. This time it's for a non-performance enhancing substance, apparently. He denies it. Three in a couple of days? I don't think that's a coincidence.
There's a rather tragic twist to this tale, if the media have got it right and I think that they have. The Mail are reporting that Jake Livermore and his girlfriend lost their newborn child shortly before this happened. He was understandably suffering from depression and failed the test a few days after the outcome of the inquest into his baby's death. The exact details seem to be obscured by ongoing legal action. Very little's being told about the circumstances, but it seems clear that the family suffered a horrible tragedy. I feel terrible for them and rather regret making the odd cheap dig at the time, in all honesty. This revelation doesn't shine too favourable a light on Steve Bruce, though. He was absolutely scathing in his condemnation of Livermore at the time, but he must've known that something was going on. He could've easily fobbed off the press with an "ongoing investigation" line. Poor. Sad stuff and I hope that the lad gets the treatment and help that he needs. I was happy to see his progress through the ranks at Spurs, at a time when very few of our youngsters were coming through. I hope that he can recover from this cruel blow, both personally and professionally. Good luck to him.
Excellent sentiments PNP. Let's hope Jake gets all the help and support he needs to get his life and career back on track.
I, like the vast majority of people nowadays, can't imagine the upset and mental trauma of losing a new born child and what you need to do to get through it. I hope that the football authorities and his club do not treat hin harshly and offer him and his family all the support they need for as long they need it. Jake, my thoughts are with you and I hope you will be able to resume your career as soon as possible.
As harsh as it sounds i don't see that as an excuse. This is something that has happened in my family before anyone starts jumping up and down in a rage. Regular people lose kids/babies/etc and at best the most they will get from work is some compassionate leave. Most don't resort to drugs.
I'm not sure that he even got compassionate leave though, Spurm. The club might have masked it by calling it an injury, I guess. Livermore made a mistake in crappy circumstances. He'll receive a ban on top of what he's already serving.
some of us lose loved ones, get the odd week off work then still got to struggle to pay our bills etc etc. I dont even give a damn that hes sniffing coke or whatever..with all that money he needs to 'enjoy' it somehow or another i guess. But the bullshit excuses..i cant be doing with understanding that. with all that money...go on a holiday, buy a new car...go and live in one of your holiday homes......all these are things us normal working class folk probably wish to do when we want to 'get away' from life for a bit...but we cant afford it..so i kind of understand the normal person who might spend 40 quid on a line of coke...it's not the answer but it's probably that persons only short term fix....but with all these millions and still fronting up about it because of losing a baby etc...for me its a load of cack. Dont make excuses like that....just say you do it as a wind down...i can take that.
