SN Blog 38 – Hugo

When news broke a few days ago it initially was an unnamed Spurs player has been arrested for drink driving and I have to be honest Hugo Lloris was not even a player who would have made my top ten list of likely candidates to do this.

I tweeted from our Spurs News twitter account as he was named (we are @SpursNews1961 if you do not follow us there) that I would not condemn him until more facts are known and I was right away slammed for this.  I tried to clarify and I will again now, this was not about me condoning his actions – drink driving in my opinion is something which I can never condone – however in the moments following the news breaking I was finding it very difficult to comprehend how a family man, model professional and all around good guy in Hugo Lloris could be drink driving without some insane reason.

Lorris[1]

The World Cup winner had an extended break following leading his country to glory but returned to pre-season training fit and started both league games so far playing well.  No hint of any off field incidents or problems to lend towards a mental break which could explain this.

However as I write this today, Sunday 26th August it has now come to light what happened and it is as simple as an arrogant decision to drive home following an evening out with friends drinking.  Hugo Lloris was interviewed by French sporting publication L’Equipe on Friday for two and a half hours before having an evening with his French team mates and friends Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny.

The French keeper was then stopped at around 2am driving home over the limit.  The news in France has been met with a very different reaction to that of England with many French media outlets calling the English reaction ‘faux outrage’ and accusing English people of being hypocritical about drinking.

The club and Hugo himself have released short statements of regret and condemning it but lets be honest here, words mean very little.  I would like to see the club take some form of action, not just taking a few weeks wages from a millionaire but maybe have him spend some time working with people who have lost loved ones to drink drivers and for context, I am one of those people.

I will not go into detail here but I spoke about it on the Spurs News podcast: http://www.spursnews.co.uk/episode-11/  which you can listen to anytime you wish on any device and is a lot like reading a blog but with your ears!

Look, we will all have different opinions on things due to experiences in our life and it is why I have tried not to be upset by seeing so many fellow fans calling it “no biggy” as for me drink driving is one of the most selfish and unforgivable acts.  He is a millionaire.  Instead of driving that night he could have got a taxi, uber, called a friend, called the club, a team mate.. posted on his Instagram he needs a lift and waited for several hundred offers from fans… shit he could have bought a damn house locally for cash!  There is no excuse.

I no longer wish to see him captain the team I support however if his regret is genuine then I of course want him to stay with us and redeem himself.  I will not right him off as a person over one incident.

I really hope that this can be the last of the bad news.  From the transfer window in the summer, the stadium build problem and delays, fans being treated so poorly over pricing and policies which show no empathy and now this where the club captain has been arrested… I have that “what next” feeling.  However I hope that is it and from this point on wards as a club we can move up.

Winning at Old Trafford Monday night would be a great start!  COYS!

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