It seems Roger Johnson isn't the only Premier League star who likes to turn up to work with a little alcohol in the system. Reports suggest that Jermaine Pennant's recent sporadic appearances in the Stoke starting XI are due to the fact that he broke the club's curfew rules on two occasions. Although manager Tony Pulis has not confirmed any rift with the player — and he is denying any punishment — the most serious breach, according to the Daily Mail, was a nightclub session that ended at 5am on the morning of a match:
The most serious incident came on the eve of Stoke's match away to Everton earlier this season.
Staying in the team hotel ahead of the match in December, Pennant broke the club's curfew to go out drinking in a nightclub.
He did not return to his room until the next morning and was later dropped from the matchday squad for the 1-0 win at Goodison Park.
If true, this is yet another incident to be added to Pennant's Big Book of Irresponsible Deeds, highlights of which include a driving ban for speeding the wrong way up a road; a prison sentence after being caught drink driving while banned and telling police his name was Ashley Cole; an arrest for domestic disturbance against his glamor model girlfriend; said girlfriend catching him cheating on her via his own home CCTV; breaking up with said girlfriend, proposing to her in a graveyard, then breaking up again; not learning a single word of Spanish while at Real Zaragoza; getting sent home from Zaragoza for being late for training three times in a fortnight; and leaving his Porsche abandoned in a Spanish train station with months of parking tickets. The saga continues...