[Barnet Flame]

There are all sorts of risks around any action a club takes or doesn’t in these circumstances. However, it is so commonplace in football and other sports, there ought to be planning for when this situation arises. Arsenal shouldn’t have played him, there could’ve been an “undisclosed injury”.

That said, if I was wrongly accused of something and I lost my ability to perform it for so long, and was subsequently prevented from doing it, only to then be vindicated, I’d want reparations. Especially for a career that has such a short window while dealt by with a legal process moving at a pace that would embarrass a sloth.

For those wondering about the timing of the decision to prosecute, Keir Starmer used to head the Crown Prosecution Service. Now I genuinely don’t believe this had anything to do with it, but you don’t have to be the world’s most imaginative conspiracy theorist to make the link.