Seasons2021-22Everton News
Everton suspend first-team player amid police investigation
A brief statement by the club went on to say that they will continue to support the authorities with their inquiries and would not be making any further statement at this time.
The bulletin from the club came in the wake of a report by the Daily Mail that a Premier League club had suspended a 31-year-old player due to a inquiries by police.
Reader Comments (81)
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2 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:26:47
3 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:29:09
What's the source?
4 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:33:58
5 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:40:42
Anyone got any idea where he resides?
6 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:42:17
7 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:43:41
8 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:43:55
Ok found it.
9 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:50:06
11 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:52:27
12 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:52:52
13 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:56:20
TBH I thought of the England right back first (terrible thing to suspect someone of I know) but hes on holiday.
14 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:57:11
15 Posted 19/07/2021 at 22:58:23
16 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:00:03
17 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:03:56
Any chance of him being Jordan Henderson?
18 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:04:40
Stated its Twitter talk.
Surely she wouldn't deny it if he was guilty.
Just read your post Soren FFS, lock him up if it's him.
19 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:05:18
20 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:15:45
Remember, there is an active case going on. Be careful with what you post - things could potentially prejudice active cases.
21 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:16:01
[BRZ]
22 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:24:09
I hope some of you are never called up for jury duty based on how quickly you are to presume who the offender is and to cast judgement on him without confirmation of that fact or the charges.
23 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:52:16
Editorial Team
24 Posted 19/07/2021 at 23:55:36
This is for your own legal protection as well as being the right thing to do until we have more information.
Please be very careful what you post.
25 Posted 20/07/2021 at 00:20:14
26 Posted 20/07/2021 at 00:25:47
27 Posted 20/07/2021 at 00:26:41
28 Posted 20/07/2021 at 00:54:37
29 Posted 20/07/2021 at 01:00:30
30 Posted 20/07/2021 at 02:37:59
Everton USA on FaceBook has a large following here in the States. They've also cut off comments on the situation.
31 Posted 20/07/2021 at 02:41:46
32 Posted 20/07/2021 at 03:34:18
33 Posted 20/07/2021 at 07:45:20
34 Posted 20/07/2021 at 07:58:30
35 Posted 20/07/2021 at 08:14:21
36 Posted 20/07/2021 at 08:32:15
37 Posted 20/07/2021 at 08:55:35
38 Posted 20/07/2021 at 08:56:56
39 Posted 20/07/2021 at 08:58:51
40 Posted 20/07/2021 at 08:59:21
42 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:07:36
Iwobi may now get a chance in that no. 10 role, that's if James moves on.
As it stand we will now rely on 2 new wide players to feed our only available striker.
43 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:08:33
Club is a mess on and off the field. Carlo made the right move getting out of here.
44 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:10:58
45 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:14:00
Editorial Team
46 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:14:02
The facts seem to be simple and now irrefutable: Police have arrested a Premier League player on child sex offenses. And Everton have supended a senior player pending a police investigation. The player can't be named "for leagal reasons".
Meanwhile speculation on social media, fuelled by a report from a football podcaster, has openly named that player, and what he is accused of – texting under-age girls.
We are then told to "be very careful what we post" and a decison is made to turn off comments on this thread, despite it being put up as headline news and, I would venture, something of extreme importance to Everton Football Club, and to us, the fans of that club and its players – something this entire website is dedicated to.
The player has been named on social media. The cat is out of the bag. We have a number of posts naming him, from as early as Sunday, when rumours first appeared on other social media platforms and our readers started to post comments.
I am in the privileged position to see what posts have been deleted, and they are only three in number that name the player. Another seven that also name the player, including the first one posted, have not been deleted.
I'm curious about the legal points here: if we are not allowed to speculate, then surely all posts related to this topic should be deleted and all discussion forbidden? Or only ones stating his name? By now, it is very obvious to anyone who has followed up on this, exactly which of our players has been suspended. It would become increasingly obvious when we start playing pre-season friendlies.
Under what legal restraint are we to limit discussion of the issue and its potential implications to our club, our team, our prospects for the season? Enough of the virtue signalling – what are the real legal issues and ramifications for posters discussing this?
47 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:19:28
48 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:21:46
49 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:22:13
We could discuss the footballing impact but I'm not sure it's relevant. If he's engaged in the kind of things rumoured then who cares about when he'll kick a football?
In terms of impact on the club's brand etc well you don't need to name the guy to have that conversation.
50 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:23:13
And if there is good reason for the authorities not to release the name, might that also give good reason not to publicly speculate as to the name???
51 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:26:43
52 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:32:54
That of course doesnt mean he is guilty but my fear is this particular EFC player will not don our shirt again and Benitez couldnt have envisaged such a harrowing start to his campaign!
53 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:32:55
54 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:35:29
The club and fans are in from a bumpy ride from the rest of the football community, especially from you know where.
55 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:37:22
But there have been other cases where it has been illegal to name such persons under UK law, yet they get named by guys in Marbella running a football podcast... and now, everyone knows! But we're all meant to pretend that we don't know who it is? Utter nonsense.
57 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:38:52
And, as Lyndon states, we need to be extremely careful here, if any comments are deemed at a later stage to be prejudicial to any future trial.
58 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:41:51
If these allegations turn out to be true then the club bears no responsibility for it whatsoever. Let's hope they turn out to be false, though you'd think in a high profile case like this the police would have to be fairly certain of their sources and evidence.
59 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:43:29
60 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:44:42
61 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:46:32
As a journalist of 40 years' standing (just about) and a senior editor for at least half that time, the issue is this: If the authorities decide to pursue this, the legal fees you will entail and possible fine (or imprisonment) is not worth the risk of naming the player on the site, even though the vast majority of ToffeeWebbers will know who it is. That's why the Daily Mail only used the Premier League status of the player and age because it casts a wider net, though in my opinion still not wide enough.
The point is, the authorities don't have to apply the law to everyone, they pick and choose the battles they think they can win. So, why open yourself to that possibility?
62 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:48:12
Michael is right, though, it's out there and will not blow over for a long time. Incredibly sad.
63 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:48:49
I sincerely hope that it could be a 'storm in a teacup' but I suppose all will be revealed in due course. After all, that we as a Club have been thorough recently, we could surely do without this, if true, but equally we must avert Trial by ToffeeWeb Jury.
I must hasten to add too, that everything that HAS happened to the Club is by no way attributable to us, the fans, we are just the loyal, but lifelong dedicated mugs who have supported them through thick and thin. Furthermore we should in no way be blamed or indeed be the subject of ridicule by other Club's Supporters either. Unfortunately though, things being as they are in this day and age, Mud Sticks!
64 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:49:28
It's a dark day for Evertonians because as I've already seen on many threads on other outlets, the club's name is getting dragged through the mud by association. The individual they are targetting has many memes which are put up to get a couple of laughing emojis etc but no thought is given to the actual possible victim(s) by these sad sacks who post them.
Hopefully, TW's have enough about them not to engage in trite and sickening statements about the situation and will wait for proper details to emerge before making any ill-conceived judgements about the issue.
65 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:52:58
66 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:53:44
67 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:56:03
Editorial Team
68 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:56:05
This is not "virtue signalling"; it is, as Paul (40) states, good journalistic practice, potentially prudent from a legal standpoint and, again, the right thing to do. Anyone remember Dave Jones?
It doesn't matter that everyone and his dog knows who we're talking about. There is a process to be followed. This thread will remain closed until further details come to light and the player's identity is made public.
69 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:56:16
70 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:58:23
I think it also means Mr Benitez has another £120,000 per week in wages to add to the kitty in signing a replacement. Again, I'm presuming we are no longer liable to pay the remaining part of his contract if found guilty.
71 Posted 20/07/2021 at 09:59:49
72 Posted 20/07/2021 at 10:04:52
This could be a simple error of texting the wrong number but highly unlikely and we are all old enough and ugly enough to know that people get caught out all the time with these sort of social media nightmares.
I suspect that, if we have suspended a player, then there is a significant issue whereby we are losing that player for some time – if not permanently. Interviewed is one thing, arrested and being detained another. Forget the name, he's one of ours and it looks very likely that we're going to lose that player. Not the best of news articles.
Editorial Team
73 Posted 20/07/2021 at 10:17:03
1) Naming the player. Fair enough, if that is restricted legally then we should at least be consistent and delete all occurrences in posts that have carried that social media speculation onto our website. I was shocked to see how many still remained online.
2) Blocking discussion. Why put up a headline story on the website, that has already garnered plenty of discussion elsewhere, and then decide that the topic will not be discussed here under that headline? That makes absolutely no sense. Are you now going to delete all the posts discussing this?
74 Posted 20/07/2021 at 10:17:47
75 Posted 20/07/2021 at 10:55:52
76 Posted 22/07/2021 at 18:23:55
For one I'm still in shock with it all our suspended player seemed such a genuine nice guy. But the fact his wife has walked out and left home says it all I'm afraid.
I hope it's not true but we will never see him in an EFC shirt again, even if he is found innocent, where will his head be at after such devastating allegations?
77 Posted 23/07/2021 at 04:37:56
Not sure of your source but my mate is a journalist in Manchester with “sources” in the unit arresting him. Usually they let plenty of info slip but he reckons this time they are stonewalling. Ive read three contradictory versions of events from “sources” on Twitter. If any are true, best case, we have attempted blackmail a la Matt Gaetz. But even then, if someone tricks you into commiting a crime then blackmails you, does that mean you get a free pass for said crime? I suspect not but maybe Steve Ferns can tell us. My eyesight isnt what it was but Im pretty sure I could tell if someone is an adult versus a child regardless of what they claim. Theres also a more bizarre conspiracy story about someone hacking a Twitter account. But would mere Tweets lead to a “very serious” charge? I suspect not based on what Sterling and co just endured.
According to the tabloids Delph is “furious” with Everton releasing the statement he had Covid as it fed into rumors he was the 31 year old married Manc dweller who was arrested. Positive from this is that maybe his anger will cause him to leave? Meanwhile one tabloid claim the team are pressuring the club to name the suspect so as to clear their names. Allegedly the players have been told not to talk the suspect. But one “international” has multiple missed calls from him.
78 Posted 23/07/2021 at 10:52:18
For one, he clearly is not the one who has any issues in this matter. Secondly, as a professional footballer actually has both a short career and is highly exposed to public ridicule, insult and attack; in other words, unlike the average Russian oligarch, he actually does have a reputation which, if damaged, would harm him financially very severely.
That said, as a footballer he's a monstrous waste of space.
79 Posted 23/07/2021 at 11:05:11
As for your legal query, it is simply not that straightforward, and depends on multiple factors. But basically you are describing the defence of "Duress" which has a very high bar and you basically need the proverbial gun to your head in our to succeed with such a defence.
Or if you mean that said person did not know they committed a crime, then that goes to "mens rea" (latin for 'guilty mind', in other words, 'intent') but you also have to apply the doctrine that "ignorance is no defence". Law, as always, becomes very complicated fast.
80 Posted 23/07/2021 at 11:10:57
According to the tabloids
Enough said, Kieran.
81 Posted 23/07/2021 at 14:06:52
A journo I know knew of it early Saturday. Evidently neighbors tipped off the press when the police showed up at his house. On the specifics, I imagine the press then tapped up leaks in the police.
82 Posted 23/07/2021 at 14:12:11
83 Posted 23/07/2021 at 15:05:37
84 Posted 23/07/2021 at 16:34:16
I'm sure you're right but, with the speed at which the law proceeds (even slower due to Covid backlog), I wouldn't bet against his contract expiring before any charges are brought, or the matter is dropped
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1 Posted 18/07/2021 at 20:36:37
This is why I hate social media because any scumbag can post anythig they want and any number of halfwits will spread it until the number of halfwits becomes big enough to make it fact.
Can't wait until people have to provide certifiable identification in order to post on these sites. That'll hopefully curtail the shite that some post and get away with.