Have to say that one of the excuses presented at yesterday's hearing was rather pathetic. Pennant's solicitor says that the player's mum reads all his post, and had told him that a letter had come from the DVLA saying that he could drive again. He didn't say whether the letter also said he didn't need insurance and could go twice over the alcohol limit and drive into a lamp-post, and Pennant's mum wasn't asked to clear the issue up.

Of course, we hope that Pennant does learn his lesson and can go on to focus his energies on realising the huge potential he has on the pitch. Can't help feeling that he'll not be playing for Arsenal again though. He's not Tony Adams. And Steve Bruce still says he wants to make the move permanent. "It's a crossroads," said Gordon Taylor. So be extra careful checking for traffic coming from the pavement.

Meanwhile, another idiot David Prutton of Southampton has also admitted his guilt, and apologised to all and sundry on telly for his sillyness on Saturday, and been handed a 10 match ban for his push on the ref. Inevitable, I guess. But does anyone else think it's a bit much? This is a player who as far as I'm aware doesn't have a huge history of disciplinary trouble, and wasn't actually trying to strike the ref or push him over or anything vaguely like that. He was just trying to get past the ref so he could land one on the linesman.