Derby County manager Phillip Cocu has slammed the “bad choice and big mistake” that will force club captain Richard Keogh to miss the rest of the season.
Keogh, who helped the Rams to a 1-1 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday, has suffered a serious knee injury after he was involved in an alleged “alcohol-related” incident on Tuesday evening.
As a result of the incident, Derby duo Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett have both been charged by Police with “drink-driving.”
On Thursday, Derby broke their silence on the matter, releasing a statement, which read: “As a club, we cannot, and do not, condone the actions of a small group of players on Tuesday evening.
"The players were out as part of a scheduled team-building dinner with staff and while the majority of them acted responsibly and left at around 8pm and were not involved, a small group, including team captain Richard Keogh, continued drinking into the night.
"They should have known when to stop and also ignored the opportunity to be driven home using cars laid on by the club, and chose to stay out.”
Following the release of that statement, Derby chief Cocu faced the media for his weekly press conference and also issued an update on the situation.
“It is bad news and a bad situation for everybody in the club,” said Cocu. “On Tuesday, after the normal training session, we had a team-building activity planned.
“First idea was to play football-golf, but the weather was really bad and so we changed the plan and we went bowling. After the bowling there was a team dinner.
"Most of the players left around 8pm they left and a small group stayed and continued at the bar.
"Due to an incident later, an alcohol-related incident, it cost us to lose our captain for the rest of the season. In the end, it was bad news for the whole team."
