Gray Flouts Lockdown Rules

And so he should, it's a club issue rather than a team issue.

 

Much as I dislike Gray I can't believe people are seriously suggesting that he - or anyone for that matter - should lose his job for having a few friends round to play cards. I can only assume you've all been self isolating for too long and have gone slightly crazy. Cabin fever, I think they call it.

 

The only reason I don't think he's a bad person is because I genuinely believe he's too thick to think with any malice.

 

Get rid ASAP and never sign a player who has played for those ****s ever again.

 

I agree that sacking would be too strong, but there surely has to be some sort of sanction for this kind of transgression which reflects poorly on the club. Unfortunately a maximum fine of two weeks’ wages is not going to be enough to dissuade highly paid footballers from making these ‘mistakes’.

 

If his contract can’t be terminated then maybe a fine of 2 years wages would be beneficial. Cmon Gino, a quick horses head and message is sent!

 

Sadly I think that’s the most they could do.

I do wonder if they could partner with Watford General and give him a morning on a Covid ward whilst he’s injured so he can see first hand why idiotic behaviour like his can lead to.

 

Punish him for (ever so slightly) increasing his risk of contracting Covid by making him spend time in an environment where the disease is rife? Good idea!

 

Club investigating as per Leventhal...

Investigating the circumstances, being dealt with internally and talks being held with player, head coach and hierarchy. No other player was present.

Where I think he will struggle to explain this one is that it was very, very likely pre-planned. So he knew what he was doing, was aware of the rules but did it anyway. Plenty of chances to pull the plug and cancel (or just not plan it in the first place) and he missed them all. I don’t know how you can even try to explain or reason that.

 

I would suggest it. This is a second offence. It's not that he's flouting rules that others have to obey. It's not that he he's selfish and entititled. It's not that I think there's a significant likelihood that he'll infect a person likely to die from it. It's quite simply that he could spread it back to others at the club and cost us matches and points. a single point last year would have avoided relegation. How do we know that a single point this year won't cost us promotion? We're already short 3 players from COVID and have trouble scoring goals. Where will we be if this #@!~ infects Pedro, Sarr, Deeney and Perica? He's too irresponsible to have round the club.

That said, we need to publicly forgive him, polish him up for the shop window and get rid of him for anything that anyone will pay in January. It's not like we'll take a significant loss as his signing fee is nearly fully amortised. It's not like his contribution on the pitch will be missed much either. Get rid. The risk/return just isn't there.

 

Plenty of nurses work 6 days a week for 10-12 hours a day and don’t catch it with adequate PPE. Journalists are allowed in to Covid wards now...they aren’t sacrosanct areas where risk of infection is massive. If proper precautions are made, for such a small period of time, the risk is less than minimal.

I wasn’t seriously believing it’s something that could happen though. Merely suggesting in a roundabout way that it’s a shame that it isn’t a possibility. Be the quickest and starkest way to make him finally see bloody sense.

 

What rule would you sack him under? The reasons would have to be watertight...
You can’t just sack someone for being an idiot no matter how many times they prove they are one.

He will have to have done something that’s very clearly against the terms of his contract. I fail to see what the club could slap him with that would stand up in an employment tribunal.

Absolutely no chance.

What’s more, we don’t know the circumstances which the 3 players who caught Covid under. They could have done something equally as reckless - they just weren’t caught by the media. Maybe just one of them was reckless but then infected the other 2?

There are a ton of reasons why you can’t sack someone for this.

 

Of course you’re wilfully missing the point, which is not that he was putting himself at higher risk but that he was risking spreading the virus to others, either at the gathering or subsequently.

 

This loser has to go.

 

I've re-read my post and it looks pretty clear to me that I said sell him in January.

With respect to the other wild gaslighting whatifs in your post. So sorry, I've had enough of that over the past 4 years. When there are facts I'll react to them. Until then, it's just rubbish.

 

There must be a way to both sack him and sue him for the loss, UAE?

 

Eh? You literally opened your comments by saying you would suggest sacking him?!

And I don’t even understand your comments in your second paragraph here so can’t really respond to them!

 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/andre-gray/profil/spieler/120565

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/watford/andre-gray-22720/

He's with us until summer 2022, so if he took the reported wage cut to £49,000 a week following relegation that's £3.8m left to pay in wages (£5.5m in wages if there was no cut).

Could we flog him for more than that and could we get better in for the same money?

 

Has he actually broken the rules? Aren't you allowed to meet 6 people? From the photos there's not more than that

 

It would be hard to bring in worse.

 

You’re not allowed to meet people from other households at the moment, no.

 

I am reasonably confident we could his replace his input for quite a lot less

 

Lloyd. What have you been up to during this lockdown?

 

Makes you wonder whether it's an example of the questionable communication around the rules or whether it's just the stupid ones that don't know them as they're thick as mince.

 

What a loser, he didn't even break lock down by going to Rita Ora's party

 

This is rather illuminating.

 

CarlosKickaballs as I live and breathe! How are ya babes?

 

You are Terry Saveloy and I claim my £5!

 

Free transfer to Barnards Castle F.C. on the cards....

 

I'll attempt to explain further. Whataboutism is a bedrock technique for logically fallacial arguments, gaslighting and for pushing conspiracy theories. We've seen a lot of this in the public sector over the past 4 years - especially coming out of Washington. Far too much for my taste.

Your statement: "What’s more, we don’t know the circumstances which the 3 players who caught Covid under. They could have done something equally as reckless - they just weren’t caught by the media. Maybe just one of them was reckless but then infected the other 2?"

All of this has nothing whatsoever to do with Gray's actions or my recommendation regarding them. The only fact in it is that we don't know anything about how people caught COVID. It's classic whataboutism, whatever the reason for it.

If something comes to light about other people that is fact based, I might weigh in on it. For now, I'm sticking with Gray. He needs to go. Preferably for some money in January. He's untrustworthy and unproductive. That gets you sacked in every job without a guaranteed contract or working for a family member.

 

I really despair about this.

I really want to like Gray. He’s our player. I don’t care about who he played for in the past or anything he’s said or done off the pitch before he joined us. Once he became our player, I really wanted him to succeed. His success would be our success. But on the pitch, with the exception of the full Gracia season, it’s just not happened for him. And he’s still turning in performances like the one we saw last week at Ashton Gate.

So with that in mind, you think well maybe if he was a great ambassador for the club off the field, then it wouldn’t be quite so bad. And I’m sure he does some good work, but then it gets put into the shade by the lockdown party and now this latest episode. It’s not really my business what he does, and I don’t wish to come across as sanctimonious or faux outrage, but it’s a shame that a combination of a lack of goals AND bad publicity off the pitch do combine to make it very hard to warm to him as a signing for us.

 

You can if you're in the garden, which Gray and his mates clearly weren't, so I withdraw that comment!

 

Mixing with my bubble in the garden while eating a substantial meal and wearing a mask pausing only to wash my hands while singing 'Happy Birthday' twice over before standing at my front door and bashing pots and pans to save 'our NHS' and thank all key workers