Matthew Lowton

[Dante Lavelli]

Ohkay...

You heard it here first.  Etc.

[Drummond]

What I'm surprised about is how open we've reported this to the press, normally clubs keep this sort of thing in house and say a player has missed the game with some sort of injury.

Clearly this is a final warning to Lowton to get his act together hence why we've made it public.

No, it's merely an assumption.

[damon loves JT]

The only safe assumption is that the club have no problem with the information being in the public domain.

I can see a scenario where Lowton's absence, uninjured, is taken as evidence of a 'training ground bust up' or 'dressing-room rift'. Better to just tell the truth, let everyone shrug their shoulders and say 'oh'.

[cheltenhamlion]

Its a tough one. If it is a first offence it seems harsh. However, we have had to deal with similar at work where people live a fair distance off and the commute is part of the issue.

For example, you live in the backwaters of Shropshire. You get the train to Brum each day but there is only one every 30 minutes to an hour.

I can have a train cancelled and still be in close to on time. They have one cancelled and they are late by an hour.

If it also seems an unreliable service so this happens more than once in a Blue moon and work will start to hit the disciplinary route but with suggestions you should move closer or somewhere with a more reliable service.

I do not know the full details of what has gone on. I do find it a tad unusual the Villa have been so open about it though.

[eamonn]

Traffic jams happen everywhere. Plus, it's not as if he lives in Middlesbrough, is it?

There's a very thin line between being strict and being a dick and I think Lambert has crossed it, as he did with the Carruthers phone incident.

Right, I must try that one with my boss next time I'm late for work. 'Boss, traffic jams happen everywhere. Stop being a dick'. I wonder how long I'd keep my job.

SheffieldVillain
Location: Poland

If Matty is travelling from Sheff to Brum and you're commuting from Sheff to Poland, I'm surprised you can keep a job

[Dave Clark Five]

No disrespect to Sheffield, which is a fine city. But the only way in or out is the M1. Which makes it handy for Rotherham, Leeds, and possibly Doncaster.

If you want to go any further you are at the mercy of the traffic. If I worked in Birmingham I couldn't justify living there.

He's from Clowne Derbyshire which is just off Junction 30. He doesn't need to take the motorway if he so chooses.  To say that Clowne is nondescript is bigging it up massively.  The only notable feature I've come across there is on the A616 road in. Two gantries with chains dangling from them.

He should be given some slack. At the last home game, he brought dozens of his local villagers with him. They are very parochial. Every time he got the ball, they shouted 'Clowne, Clowne, f*****g Clowne'. They were all at it near me.

[QBVILLA]

Some very judgmental folks on this thread. He was late for work, got fined. If he was out on the piss the night before a game etc etc then fair enough but this isn't even news imo.

[SoccerHQ]

The club made it news.

[Dave Clark Five]

The club made it news.

Plus we've got nothing else to talk about with it being so long until the next game. We need tittle tattle to keep us going.

[damon loves JT]

And really, it's only us who give a toss.

[peter w]

And some of us don't.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

This thread is in danger of dying out. Isn't it about time we brought religion into it?

[Dave Clark Five]

This thread is in danger of dying out. Isn't it about time we brought religion into it?

Either that or the McCanns.

[OCD]

This thread is in danger of dying out. Isn't it about time we brought religion into it?

That would be an ecumenical matter.

[Dribbler]

From what we've been told the punishment seems very harsh for the crime.