Former Newcastle United defender Sylvain Distin has been fined £2,000 for failing to attend the assault trial of former team-mate Joey Barton.
Distin while on loan at Newcastle during the 2001-2002 season
The Frenchman had been warned he could have faced a jail term if his absence had led to a delay in court proceedings.
But since Barton pleaded guilty at the last moment, to avoid jail time, the trail was aborted and as it turned out Distin was not needed.
Distin, who is now 30 years old, ignored a summons to appear in court and had the cheek to leave for Crete, for a holiday with his family just days before the hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on June 30th.
Do you think these footballers live in the real world?
The Portsmouth defender was to be a witness for the prosecution at the trial related to the training ground altercation at Manchester City last May 1st, in which Barton violently attacked fellow Frenchman Ousmane Dabo.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told Distin his non-appearance would have halted the case if Barton had not changed his plea to guilty, and a custodial sentence on Distin could have then been served.
But he was fined just £2,000, hardly a massive financial impact to a player who must be on around £60,000 a week at Pompey.
Distin played 28 games for Newcastle United, while on loan from PSG, but then refused to sign a four year deal at the club, offered to him by our manager at that time, the great Bobby Robson.
Instead Manchester City came in and offered him a better wage deal and he was off to City, and a certain manager there, called Kevin Keegan.
If we had persuaded Sylvain to stay with us, it seems unlikely our defense would have been so maligned over the last several years, since Distin was very solid at the heart of the Eastland cub’s defense.
The 6′4″ Distin moved last summer to Portsmouth, as a free agent, after serving out his 5 year contract at Eastlands.
Comments welcome.
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19 responses so far ↓
1 Leo // Jul 14, 2008 at 14:21
ha ha ha haha ha ha ha distin was a good footballer for newcastle i wish we had kept him, nevermind life goes on
2 Davies // Jul 14, 2008 at 14:33
Oh well. Suppose he’ll be skint for the rest of the month now. Oh, wait……..
3 Punk Skunk // Jul 14, 2008 at 14:38
Skint for the rest of the afternoon, more like!..
…He prob thought dabo deserved it, i guess?..
4 WesToon // Jul 14, 2008 at 14:39
Should still be at the TOON!! Gr8 player!! HAHAHA Should of fined him 2 mill,the traitor!!!
5 Seymour Butts // Jul 14, 2008 at 14:47
thts right - hit em where it hurts - the wallet. bet he’s gutted…
6 oga // Jul 14, 2008 at 14:53
SBR made few errors when he managed us.
However letting Distin go was one of those minor errors.
7 Kash2 // Jul 14, 2008 at 15:25
I thought his comment for not interrupting his holiday was briliant. If the justice system could postpone the hearing for the end of the football season, surely they could wait for Distin to return from holiday! LOL
8 spanishtoon // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:00
newcastle are apparently attempting a move for Bojan.
9 robertsa // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:16
toons possible defensive buys this summer and the odds that they will come.
cuellar 12/1
collocini 12/1
koncheskey 9/1
ferdinand 8/1
rat 9/1
shorey 8/1
ben haim 20/1
kaboul 14/1
boyce 20/1
samba 20/1
UPFRONT
crespo 50/1
derdiyok 20/1
bojan 150/1
eto 145/1
boyd 70/1
henry 70/1
I am hoping for 4 defenders and 1 striker i better make it clear im not willing to bet.lol
10 dougnufc // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:19
http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/07/14/Prem-Terziev-on-trial/
Good to see us having youngsters on trial
11 Matt // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:28
Monnet-Paquet looks a quality prospect, he’s as quick as Martins but has more of a footballing brain.
12 Kash2 // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:31
@ Matt - have you seen him play?
13 John // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:39
who cares about distin
14 John // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:39
Distin should off got time…That would be well funny
15 Spyro // Jul 14, 2008 at 16:43
i know of Paquet but i must admit i have never seen him play, he is supposed to be a good prospect, someone fill me in
16 Tom_Toon // Jul 14, 2008 at 17:48
Spanish toon - Where’d you hear this?
17 steve // Jul 14, 2008 at 18:09
Probably would have cost him more to fly back and stay in hotel during trial
18 normski1930z // Jul 14, 2008 at 18:26
Bojan Krkić= bollox…..
19 Will Camp // Jul 15, 2008 at 12:07
typical french player. rejected us 5 years ago for more money. reminds me of nzogbia, bernard and robert, not forgetting guivarch.
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