Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard is determined to make the club more competitive this season and at least make it to European competition.
Gerrard has imposed strict rules on the club’s locker room to achieve his goal.
All players must follow the rules, or they are subject to fines. According to the leaked list of rules, players who arrive late to training, that is to say, after Gerrard has blown his whistle to mark the start of the session, will have to pay a fine of 594 euros.
Although fines for players committing disciplinary offenses are nothing new and are widely practiced in clubs worldwide, Gerrard’s case has drawn attention because some fines are somewhat outside of the common.
For example, going into the shower barefoot is prohibited and carries a fine of 119 euros. There is also a fine if they forget to bring a cake on their birthday and they will have to pay 60 euros for each day that passes.
The highest fines correspond to those related to game day; for example, arriving late on that day means a fine of almost 1,200 euros. And if they arrive late to the meetings before game day, the penalty is 237 euros per minute.
Gerrard’s goal is for players to be disciplined. He also hopes that they behave well on the field since the player who is sanctioned with a yellow card will receive a fine of 250 euros. And in the case of receiving a red card, that player must take out the entire club’s roster to eat.
With these new rules, Gerrard shows that he takes his job very seriously and that he wants a disciplined club focused on competing at the top of the Premier League.