Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright says he was ‘gutted’ Jack Grealish defied coronavirus lockdown measures and contacted the Aston Villa captain to express his disappointment.
Grealish said he was ‘deeply embarrassed’ after he was pictured at the scene of a car accident in Birmingham on Sunday.
The incident came hours after Grealish, 24, had urged fans to ‘stay home’ during the country’s coronavirus lockdown.
‘I am gutted because people could have been hurt, that is the thing,’ Arsenal and England hero Wright told BBC Radio 5 Live.
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‘People do not realise, not just with what is going on, but people could have been hurt and I hope that he is sitting somewhere now realising the enormity of the mistake he has made – that is all I am hoping.
‘I have messaged him so he knows how I feel. I am very, very angry about it.
‘He came up from the Championship with the weight of Aston Villa and all their expectations on him, and let’s face it, with the way that he has played this season, he has answered everything to carry that club.
‘People think as a professional footballer
you make a mistake, but no, the reason you are a professional footballer is
that you have to lead by example.
‘He is linked with a massive club in
Manchester United, so you think to yourself that you have to act accordingly.
‘It doesn’t matter if you are 24, you have to act accordingly and I hope that this isn’t something that is going to cause him a lot of problems. I really do hope that.’
Grealish admitted he was ‘deeply embarrassed’ after defying the coronavirus lockdown measures, which were brought in to tackle the spread of COVID-19.
‘I just want to do a quick video message just to say how deeply embarassed I am about what happened this weekend,’ said Grealish.
‘I know it’s a tough time for everyone at the moment, being locked indoors for so long. I obviously got a call from a friend asking to go round to his and I stupidly agreed to do so.I don’t want anyone to make the same mistake I did.
‘I urge everyone to stay at home and follow the rules and guidelines with what we’ve been asked to do. I know for a fact I’ll be doing that in the near future now. I urge everyone to do the same.
‘I hope everyone can accept my apology and we can move on from this and hopefully in the future we can all be out enjoying ourselves again once this has all boiled over.’
Aston Villa confirmed on Monday that they had fined Grealish, with the proceeds donated to the University Hospitals Charity in Birmingham.
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