AMERICAN HORROR STORY
I got fined £20,000 for jetting to Miami after being axed from the England squad – I blame British Airways
Airline gaffe also cost the star's club team-mate significant money
FORMER England international Gabriel Agbonlahor has revealed that he was once fined £20,000 because of a British Airways gaffe.
Agbonlahor, 37, received the hefty fine following a trip to Miami after being dropped by the Three Lions.
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The former Aston Villa star earned three England caps between 2008 and 2009.
During one international break around that period, the forward found himself dropped by Fabio Capello.
Not having to lace up his boots for the Three Lions, Agbonlahor made use of his free time by hopping stateside to Miami with team-mate Jordan Bowery,
In a less than ideal twist, however, their return BA flight was delayed by a frustrating four hours.
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And worse still, the wait saw them miss Villa's next training session - which did not go down well with boss Paul Lambert.
Lifting the lid on the incident, the host revealed: "Under Paul Lambert, I went to Miami. I went with a man called Jordan Bowery, who’s at Mansfield now.
"On the way back we got to the airport and our flight was delayed.
"Our flight was landing at Heathrow at 6:30am and we had to be at training for nine. It’s only an hour 40 minute drive but there was no room for delay... it was delayed for four hours.
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";We were working out the times, knowing we weren’t going to make it, so we were thinking of excuses.
"But I was like, do you know what, I get on with Paul Lambert, I’m just going to be honest and say the flight was delayed.
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"Anyway, we got to training at 12pm and it had started at 10, the players were walking off the training pitch.
"But Paul was just laughing saying ‘it’s going to be an expensive one’.
"It cost me £10,000 in cash and £10,000 out my wages. It was less for Jordan as he was on less. All because of British Airways.
"But because I was a senior pro and got on with the gaffer well [it was fine], but if I was a young lad like Jordan I’d have been nervous.
"But yeah, that was a funny story."
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Harry Maguire
"The decision on Harry [Maguire] is totally about his physical condition and his recovery from the injury. There is no other reason as he is one of our strongest centre-backs.
"Harry has made some progress, but it's been complicated and we wouldn't have had him in the group stages. There were too many hurdles to get through without being clear where we might get to.
"Knowing we haven't got a clean bill of health across the rest of the backline, we need players who are fit and ready to go from the start.
"It was a really difficult call, you know how I feel about Harry, what he's done for England and for me as a manager. "
Jack Grealish
“I have just delivered a really difficult conversation to a lad who is devastated.
"I think the world of him as a kid.“It certainly doesn’t get any easier.
"You put yourself in the shoes of a player, a parent. You understand that for these players this is a devastating moment.
“We knew we had a couple of really difficult days coming up."
James Maddison
"Madders [Maddison] and Jack [Grealish] would have provided us with something different as well and they've been tough calls.
"They're calls we've gone over and over and over as a group of staff to try to be fair and to try to use the right rationale.
"We back our decisions but we recognise we could have gone a different route. The boys are big characters, fabulous team-mates and great boys to work with.
"It's sad to have to deliver that news to them."
Jarrad Branthwaite
"It's a bit early for Jarrad [Branthwaite]. He has had a fabulous season, it was good to get him on the pitch the other night.
"But of course, in an ideal world, you'd like that balance of left-footers. For him to be in ahead of the others, I don't think it would have been the right call at this stage."
Jarell Quansah
"Jarell Quansah has stayed with us. He's not had the experience of an England international at Wembley. It'll be great for him to be us for the game.
"Hopefully we're not needing to call anyone else in."
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