Not sure what Derby are playing at. Supposed to have been sacked for gross misconduct but 1. He was a backseat passenger in car crash. 2. It is reported as a boozy night out with 2 of his team mates. 3. Both, I think, of the team mates have been convicted of drink driving. 4. Derby have not sacked either of the 2 team mates but have simply fined them 6 weeks wages. 5. Derby have offered Keogh to stay on but on much reduced wages. If it’s gross misconduct it’s gross misconduct. The gross misconduct doesn’t suddenly become simply misconduct if you agree to take lower wages. Hope Keogh takes Derby to Court where on the above facts I believe he will win hands down. Wonder if Keogh was 25 yo and not 33 yo if Derby would have sacked him?
he got so badly injured in the crash that he is out for at least a year apparently. As a senior pro he should have been stopping the Lawrence & Bennett from driving not condoning it plus he wasn't wearing a seat belt which presumably contributed to the extent of the injuries . That i assume will be Derbys defence though the only difference from the drivers is the injury & lack of criminal conviction .
But what Derby are saying is that as the conduct is classed as gross misconduct the only sanction available is summary dismissal which is what they have done. If the only sanction was dismissal because his conduct was so bad then why were they prepared to accept that conduct and impose a lesser sanction IF he took a significant wage cut. A significant wage cut does not reduce the extent of the misconduct. His misconduct was gross or it wasn't. The size of his wage packet doesn't alter that. Think if he takes them to Court then Derby's defence will be as leaky as their football team's defence has been this season.
someone can be guilty of misconduct but be given a lesser penalty what you cannot do is give a higher penalty than is laid out in your discipline sanctions .
He's out for 15 months and has 18 months left on his contract and he's 33 so will be knocking on 35, if not already, by the time he re-starts training and will probably need and additional 2-3 months to get up and running so there's little to no point honoring the contract. Having played there a while I think he'll just accept the punishment and retire to work in punditry or disappear off to a league one/two team to rehab and try and eke an extra year or two out of his career - especially if there was a bag of Charlie in the car! As Club captain the punishment would be harsher on him than the others as he is the one expected to set and example to the rest but obviously did not in this case.
gross misconduct doesn't mean they have to sack him , but it means that they can,so they tried to do him a favour and he said no , so they sacked him. He's a tit !
