Footballing news

Just two days earlier he had been banned from driving for eight weeks after speeding at 106mph on a 60mph road.

It emerged he has 13 convictions including theft, assaulting a police officer and wounding. In a criminal career that ran parallel to his sporting one, the 29-year-old was given a succession of fines and community service orders - but only once was he actually jailed.

And what might that have been for?

receiving a stolen £30,000 BMW resulted in prison

"Car crime!" The courts quite rightly regarded that as a much more serious matter than speeding, drunken driving or physical assault.