Adelaide United FC Coach Aurelio Vidmar has spoken about his and the club's disappointment at Robert Cornthwaite's alleged actions at a city nightclub on the weekend, which led to the defender being charged with basic assault and withholding information from South Australian police.
Answering whether Cornthwaite had let him and the club down at a media conference after the squad's training session this morning, Vidmar's response and disappointment was plainly evident.
"It's obvious isn't it? He certainly has, he's let everyone down," Vidmar said.
"Everyone is extremely disappointed but it has happened and now we need to rectify it and make sure it doesn't happen again."
Vidmar confirmed that the club would enforce the 'appropriate sanctions' on Cornthwaite following his arrest at the nightclub shortly after midnight on the morning of Sunday 30 August 2009.
The incident was the last thing Vidmar needed as The Reds prepare for a tough away trip to face Wellington Phoenix on Friday, as they try to improve on just one win from four starts this season.
"We will put on our own sanctions, and then it has to get cleared by the FFA (Football Federation Australia). Obviously what's happened has been a breach of the FFA Code of Conduct as well as ours, so that's why they will be having a say in it as well," Vidmar said.
"Certainly we don't need this but it's happened. You can't control every aspect of the players, and every aspect of what is going to happen at a football club. They (the players) certainly do know the rules, regulations, guidelines and what we expect, and on this occasion Robbie has certainly crossed that line, so we need to fix it and move forward."
Cornthwaite trained with the rest of United's squad as per normal this morning, Vidmar stating there would be no benefit keeping the 23 year old away from the group.
"He's a professional footballer, he needs to train. Certainly he's not going to stay away from the group and not train. He needs to train because that's his job, and he'll certainly be getting some sanctions," Vidmar declared.
"He's a pretty tough character. He's bitterly disappointed but if I look at the way he's trained today he really hasn't missed a beat."
Vidmar and the club will hold discussions this afternoon to determine the sanctions and penalty on Cornthwaite, The Reds boss stating a decision would be made in the next 24 hours on what penalty will be implemented.
Despite this latest episode, Vidmar does not plan to put an alcohol ban on the squad, and he says he is confident Cornthwaite and the club can learn from this experience and move forward, to ensure there is no repeat of such an incident.
"This is the first occasion something like this has happened at this club in four years and generally they (the players) are all pretty good, and they always have been, so at this point I'm certainly not going to ban alcohol, but they will certainly know that there needs to be a limit," Vidmar said.
"(The alleged actions) certainly are out of character for him (Cornthwaite). He's never done anything like this. Speaking to him yesterday, in all his time as a teenager growing up, nothing like this has ever happened so it's certainly out of character."
