So the club were informed

The club will be keeping schtum until this is over. They will have been advised by their legal team to do so in case it prejudices the outcome of the trial.

 

If the club had sacked him before he admitted guilt in a court of law and then this young lass decided to drop all charges it would have left the club in a right pickle..The club acted swiftly and decisively as soon as his guilty plea went in..
It looks to me that some of our own just like having a dig at our club at every given opportunity ..

 

The club would actually have had the protection of the law in that instance. Employers can terminate the contract of an employee for a sex offence allegation/ charge committed outside of work provided that they can show that it would have brought their name into disrepute and that the employee was in close contact with 'customers' [fans.]

 

He can give her one from me as well. Lucky little bastard.

 

Not necessarily... If they had sacked him and then he had been found not guilty it would have left them wide open...I believe the club have acted perfectly reasonably and with common sense over this..

 

I certainly don't like having a go at our club, but in this case I believe that they have questions to answer.

It is being reported that the club were aware of the content of all of the messages sent by Adam Johnson to the girl in question. If I had sent messages to a schoolgirl requesting naked photographs and my employer became aware of this then I would expect to be dismissed for gross misconduct, and that is regardless of whether the matter actually went to court.

 

True. But, all they need to show is that is was reasonable at the time. I have seen people saying that he 'should' have been sacked legally. Not true. No obligation to do that. They had the choice and chose not to.

 

And you are basing this on what information?

 

I'm just guessing. If what is being said is true, then that would suggest a choice. I am assuming that Johnson's legal team has some evidence otherwise they would have advised him not to say anything?

 

I think that Johnson's legal team will be squirming at some of his comments when being questioned. He is not exactly the brightest button in the box is he..

 

thanks its saved me looking up Ephebophile but putting the pedantics aside, in the venacular - paedohile he is going to be called atm.
Certainly a very silly lad and I'm thinking our CE's (a criminal lawyer !) advice is dragging our club into the warrented vitriol floating about in the media at moment

 

Aye. Pedantics aside, he's a sex offender either way.

 

In one respect true but a big difference is her dad knew and so maybe PG didnt act so guilty with the girl - no excuse here imo
I know the legality then but it was not reported

 

So it's ok to abuse underage girls, as long as somebody doesn't mind it?

 

Terminating his contract before the legal process had taken it's course would have been unlikely to have been deemed reasonable if he was found innocent of all charges. He'd have had a very winnable case for wrongly dismissal.

In addition they could have been seen to have been potentially influencing the forth coming case, by in essence declaring him guilty before his trial.

Sunderland have acted on the advice of their own lawyers and those of the PFA when they made their decision to reinstate him post his initial suspension. They've acted in the right way throughout imo.

 

-so glad you did'nt pick up OUR club - but it is OUR games integrity and social responsibilities of players at stake

 

I never knew this about Gazza.. If it is true it is at best creepy..

 

Doesn't make a different to me that he played for Sunderland. I'd feel the same if he played for us. A sex offender is a sex offender and society needs protection.

 

I'd heard the story before, but had simply forgot. It's no different to what Adam Johnson has done, IMO.