Carruthers falls foul of Villa mobile ban
Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert has enforced his training ground ban on mobile phones by fining Samir Carruthers £500.
Lambert banned all mobiles, tablets and laptops at the club's Bodymoor Heath training complex from the moment he took the role as Alex McLeish's replacement.
And reserve team player Carruthers has become the first to fall foul of Lambert's hard-line rules, for making a call at the training ground.
The 19-year-old posted a picture on a social networking site of him counting out £500 to hand over to the manager, as punishment for flouting the ban.
Lambert, when asked whether he had fined the young winger for his actions, said: "Yes, that's right. He'll pay for that. Those are the rules and you don't bend them for anyone."
The manager is determined to stamp down his authority in a bid to increase the focus of his new squad and had a similar policy at his former club Norwich City. Indeed, he will continue to fine players who fail to adhere to his code of conduct.
"If I was to go to anybody else's work or business and start messing around then I'm pretty sure people wouldn't accept me messing around," he said. "Have other players been fined? I won't go short of bread, let's put it that way."
