Sittin' here

Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant (22) Was sentenced to 3 months in prison today, he appeared before magistrates accused of several driving offences. Including, driving under suspension, driving under the influence and driving with no insurance. The right winger has spent the last few months wowing crowds on loan at Birmingham but will miss the rest of the season, after which his Arsenal contract will expire. Leaving him free to leave the club officially.

A 15 year old Jermaine was signed by Arsenal from Notts County for a massive £2 Million, a then-record for a teenager. He has struggled to claim a first team place since arriving and has found himself in trouble with the law on more than 1 occasion. Although having a very obvious natural talent, Jermaine has been accused of lacking focus and commitment, I consider the boy to be one of the best young players to have pulled on an Arsenal jersey and consider it a shame that such a talent will not continue in the Arsenal red and white.

It has been claimed by Birmingham chairman David Gold that Jermaine is very poorly educated and could hardly read or write when Birmingham met with the England Under 21 international. If this is true, then I believe that Arsenal and it's system of coaches should be very ashamed by the way that they've treated young Jermaine. A 15 year-old moved to the biggest and fastest city in Europe from a council estate in Nottingham, would be a massive transition and one that should have been handled with more care and respect in my opinion. I can only hope that Pennant can learn from his mistakes and appreciate the talent that he has been blessed with, it was about 20 years ago that Arsenal's greatest ever player Tony Adams was sent to prison for a similar offence. Tony went on to become England's second best Centre back of all time and Arsenal's greatest ever player. It was mooted that Adams would take Jermaine under his wing once the winger's prison sentence was complete. I truly hope that Tony Adams can help Jermaine to beat his demons and become the player that we've all hoped he would be..... Hold your head up Jermaine.

Tego