FORMER Aston Villa assistant manager Ray Wilkins has revealed he had words
with disgraced striker Gabby Agbonlahor after spotting the early warning
signs about his fitness.
The 29-year-old, dubbed ‘Flabby Gabby’, was named and shamed by caretaker boss
Eric Black last week as being “unfit” and .
If that was not embarrassing enough for the forward, hours
after Villa’s relegation was confirmed on Saturday, The
Sun exposed Agbonlahor’s booze-fuelled antics as he partied the night away
with a couple of girl fans in a London hotel room.
He was pictured, balloon in mouth, in a hotel room where Nitrous Oxide
cartridges littered the floor around his feet. Later the £60,000-a-week
striker was seen downing shots and horsing around with hangers-on at
London’s Mayfair Hotel.
The
club moved quickly to suspend him following the latest in a growing list
of incidents involving Agbonlahor this season.
He was previously pictured using laughing gas at a party in September and just
three weeks ago the
former England international was spotted smoking from a shisha pipe and
drinking champagne on a trip to Dubai during the international break.
The downfall of Agbonlahor has come as no surprise to Wilkins, who was Tim
Sherwood’s number two at Villa Park until he the was sacked and replaced
with Remi Garde earlier in the season.
And he revealed that he had words with the shamed star at the start of the
campaign, and they were met in a confrontational manner by the
Birmingham-born attacker.
Wilkins, speaking to ,
revealed: “I had words with Gabby when I was there about his physical
condition.
READ NOW:
Aston
Villa will NOT sack Gabby Agbonlahor over laughing gas snaps as 500 staff
face sack
Aston
Villa’s Gabby Agbonlahor spotted apparently smoking shisha pipe on holiday
in Dubai
“He said to me that he could get his own physical condition in nick, and for
me not to worry about it.
“[It was] in a controversial manner and I thought at the time that ‘we need
you’ but obviously my words fell on deaf ears.”
Agbonlahor has been one of relegated Aston
Villa’s biggest underachievers this season, with the club enduring a
dire campaign that has seen them win just three league games.
He has scored only once in 18 games, and he looks unlikely to add to that
tally after his recent suspension.