A doorman attacked with a handbag by Wolves star Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has today hit out at his £1,350 fine, branding the punishment as “a joke”.
Greg Smith, aged 37, was left with a three-inch cut to his head following the blow from the £8,250-a-week star.
Violence flared outside The Candy Store club in Plymouth in November last year moments after 22-year-old Ebanks-Blake had been “forcibly” ejected following a row over a spilled drink.
Former Argyle striker Ebanks-Blake was given the fine – the equivalent of a day-and-a-half’s wages – after pleading guilty to causing actual bodily harm and threatening unlawful violence at Plymouth Crown Court.
After the hearing on Friday, Mr Smith said: “I was just a member of the public and ended up with a three-inch scar. It’s the principle of it all – it’s not about the money, even though for him it’s nothing more than a day’s wage. It’s a joke.” Ebanks-Blake was with friends and his girlfriend outside the Union Street club at around 4am on November 11 when the group was involved in a row with another party about a spilled drink.
The court heard the altercation quickly escalated and the footballer, his girlfriend and friends were forcibly ejected by doorstaff.
Crown prosecutors originally claimed Ebanks-Blake then struck Mr Smith over the head with a bottle. But prosecuting barrister David Gittins said that CCTV footage showed he had used his girlfriend’s handbag instead.
The shamed soccer star, who won the Golden Boot as top goal scorer in The Championship last season, also admitted punching the doorman during the bust-up but this did not cause any further injury, the court was told. The judge said the footballer was of previous good character.
But Mr Smith, who is chef and proprietor of the Plymstock Inn public house and works as a doorman part-time, said he was furious.
“I’m not happy at all,” he said. “I just popped down to see my brother, who does work there, and the other doormen who I know, to have a drink after finishing my work. I was waiting, thinking he was taking his time and there was this ruckus in the club. He is in the public eye and I would’ve expected better behaviour.
“The doormen of Plymouth get the bad name, but we’re on the frontline, and when something like this happens we don’t even get a chance to go to court and tell them what really happened.”
The player was transferred from Championship rivals Plymouth to Wolves in a £1.5m mid-season deal at the start of the year.
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