Source: Telegraph
Harry Redknapp takes tough line over David Bentley's drinkdrive incident
Bentley will not be included in the starting line-up for this afternoon's match at home to Liverpool, and has been pushed closer to the Tottenham exit door after he allegedly hit a lamp-post while under the influence of alcohol last Thursday morning.
The subject of drink-driving is an acutely personal one for Redknapp, who in June 1990 lost best friend Brian Tiler, then the Bournemouth managing director, after their car was involved in a collision while they were over in Italy to watch the World Cup.
Four people in the other car also died, and Redknapp was so traumatised by the incident that he took a season off from management.
"I lost my best mate," the Tottenham manager said. "Four kids were killed, too. Anybody in that situation can surely afford just to take the bus. It is a no-go for me in football, the drinking. You look at the problems that managers have with players and so many have come from the drinking and what has gone on in nightclubs.
"The rewards for the players now are fantastic, they are meant to be super-fit athletes, and so they have a duty to look after themselves while the season is on. They have a month off in the summer to enjoy themselves, but otherwise I don't see why it should be a part of what they are doing."
A furious Redknapp made these points in no uncertain terms to Bentley before Tottenham's Friday training session, and while he did not refer to his own loss, he warned the 24 year-old that the road back to favour could prove long and difficult.
Bentley found it impossible last season to establish a regular starting place under Redknapp, with the strong form of Luka Modric and Aaron Lennon, faces becoming still more a pariah this time around.
"What happened certainly doesn't help him," Redknapp admitted. "He needs to lose the image that has grown up around him, to lose the tag of the 'new Beckham'. He must kick that into touch. He has to develop a different side to his personality.
"David has great ability but he needs some good advice. He doesn't need to be getting involved in nightclubs. He should look at Modric, who just concentrates on getting on with job and this is what I'd like to see from him: a focus on playing well for Tottenham. He told me that in one sense, the arrest was the best thing that has happened to him, to wake him up, but talk is cheap."
Redknapp confirmed that "internal action", probably in the form of a fine, would be taken against Bentley, given that the embarrassment has come so soon after Tottenham centre-back and captain Ledley King was caught up in an incident outside a London nightclub. Bentley has been bailed to appear at St Albans' Magistrates Court on Aug 28.
His position at White Hart Lane has never been more precarious although Redknapp insisted that there was no trut in reports linking him to Aston Villa.
