Adrian Mutu’s footballing career has never been dull. The 32 year old Romanian international has experienced plenty of ups and downs during his 15 year career, and his most recent misdemeanour has lead to the Romanian FA banning him ‘for life’ after he spent a night out drinking with West Brom’s Gabriel Tamas before Romania’s friendly with San Marino earlier this month.
While he and Tamas (also banned for life) had broken the team rules by going out on a Monday night before a match, it was hardly Mutu’s worst crime. While playing for Chelsea, a drugs test found cocaine in Mutu’s system. He was sacked by Chelsea, and then banned by the FA for seven months and fined £20,000. Following this, Chelsea took Mutu to court, seeking damages for breach of contract. In 2008, the case was finally resolved and Mutu was ordered to pay Chelsea £17million.
Having joined Chelsea from Parma, Mutu returned to Italy to sign for Juventus in January of 2005, despite still serving his ban. After an unsuccessful spell with the Turin giants, he joined Fiorentina in 2006. Mutu finally appeared settled in Florence, and had the most consistent spell of his career, scoring over 60 goals until he ran into trouble once more in 2010. He reportedly failed a doping test in January last year, and the Italian doping prosecutor recommended a one year ban. Mutu was initially given a 9 month ban, finally reduced to 6. He was then suspended by the club for breach of contract in January of this year, and ultimately left the club in the summer.
So given that the Romanian FA were happy to select Mutu despite two bans for drugs offences, it seems odd that they would finally choose to ban Mutu for drinking two nights before a meaningless friendly against one of Europe’s minnows. But it’s not that unusual for football clubs or authorities to be inconsistent when dealing with problem players.
Star players will generally get defended more by their clubs should they get into trouble. Manchester United famously stuck by Eric Cantona after he was suspended for eight months following his attack on a fan at Selhurst Park. A key figure in Sir Alex Ferguson’s mid-90s United side, it’s reasonable to assume that Cantona’s career at Old Trafford would have been over had he been a fringe player.
When it comes down to it, the Romanian FA clearly felt that Mutu was past his best and they could do without him. It seems unlikely they would have taken the same course of action a few years ago, when he was playing his best football. And that’s the hypocrisy of football. When you’re a valued and talented player, your club will defend you through thick and thin. A world class player that gets involved in something on or off the pitch that leads to long suspensions or criminal proceedings will be defended by his club and he’ll still receive his weekly wages.
But if you’re out of the team or consistently injured, or just past your best, you’ll probably find yourself without a contract, or on the transfer list, or sent away from the first team. It’s not fair and it’s not right, but as wages continue to rise, players will find that their off field behaviour will come under much closer scrutiny, and those with a history of trouble will find themselves out of a job.
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