West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has lashed out at James Tomkins saying he should not have been at a well-known nightspot during Sunday morning.
The defender was arrested and charged with assaulting a policeman after an incident at Brentwood’s Sugar Hut – a venue which found fame for being a key spot on the ITV reality show The Only Way Is Essex.
Though insistent that Tomkins would continue to play for West Ham and would be considered for Thursday’s home game against Arsenal, Allardyce was unhappy that he was out so late at night.
‘Because of the legal side of it, it is difficult for me to comment,’ Allardyce said.
‘The only thing I can is that I don’t think James should have been there, irrespective of whether he got into trouble or not.
‘It is the biggest profile public house in this country probably and he would have been better if he had stayed away.
‘From a club’s point of view, there is nothing he has broken in terms of rules. It is five or six days till the next game so what will happen from a legal point of view, we will have to wait and see.’
Allardyce also revealed his players hadn’t been given a Christmas curfew but still expects them to behave responsibly.
‘I expect them to be professional enough without me telling them what they should or shouldn’t be doing.
‘Within the confines of what we can do and what we can restrict them to, based on the fact that we can’t anyone 100 per cent from doing anything because the PFA wouldn’t allow us to do that so we have certain restrictions bout being on licensed premises at a certain time in the week before the next game comes along and that was well outside of that.’
Tomkins is due to appear at Basildon Magistrates’ Court on January the 9th.
Allardyce said: ‘I can’t give out any punishment yet because he has pleaded not guilty and I think when we come to a conclusion in the case, we can see what the situation is.
‘From a football point of view, he is a footballer we need. He is obviously a big player for West Ham and he is West Ham born and bred.
‘It is an incident which we wish had never happened and we won’t really know the outcome until or if it goes to court. Until then it is: “Get on with the job, get on performing well for West Ham if and when he is selected”.’
By Rory Whitelaw
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