Birmingham City defender Dion Sanderson has been charged with drink-driving and is scheduled to appear in court next week. The club became aware of the incident last week and decided to strip Sanderson of the captaincy for Saturday’s game against Rotherham United.
Sanderson, who was appointed Blues skipper after joining the club permanently from Wolverhampton Wanderers last year, was replaced by experienced goalkeeper John Ruddy and will not wear the armband in either of Blues’ remaining two Championship games.
In a statement released to BirminghamLive, West Midlands Police said: “Dion Sanderson, 24, has been charged with drink driving and will appear before magistrates in Birmingham on 30 April. He has been bailed until that date.”
Sanderson retained his place in Blues’ starting line-up at Rotherham and has started all six games since Gary Rowett was appointed interim manager.
The central defender enjoyed two loan spells at Blues before becoming a permanent signing last summer. He has started 35 league games this term and has made 88 appearances for Birmingham City in total.
A club statement said: “The club was informed by West Midlands Police early last week that Dion Sanderson had been charged in relation to a drink-driving offence. Sanderson reported the incident to club officials on the same day.
“As a result, disciplinary action was taken by the club, and the decision was made to remove the Men’s First Team captaincy from the Blues defender for the remainder of the season.
“Sanderson has apologized to his teammates for his gross error in judgment and accepts full responsibility for his actions. The matter has been dealt with internally, and no further comment will be made at this time.”
GET MORE NEWS HERE
Leave a Reply