Ipswich Town boss Paul Jewell has defended his decision to punish Jimmy Bullard and Michael Chopra differently for the same offence. Bullard has been suspended for two weeks after the pair were late training on Thursday and Chopra fined two weeks wages following a night out in Newcastle on Wednesday.
"Suspending Jimmy from the football club for two weeks will really hurt him.
"He loves playing and training and we've taken that privilege away from him for two weeks. Hopefully it will make him realise his mistake."
But Jewell said issuing the same sanction to 28-year-old Chopra would have hindered the striker's battle with his gambling addiction.
"I think if I had suspended Michael for two weeks it would have been counterproductive - both to him and to us," said the former Wigan boss.
"They've made a mistake. I've dealt with it. Whether I've dealt with it the right way, I don't know. I've dealt with it how I see fit.
"The most important thing is the benefit to the team. I think Michael being in the team benefits us at the moment. But he's got to be culpable as well."
"They know they made a mistake and they're very remorseful," added Jewell.
"They've let the team down and of course they've let me down because I'm the manager.
"But none of us are perfect or angels. If it happens again there'll be serious, serious bother. But I'm not expecting it to." "You'd love to treat everyone the same but life isn't like that," Jewell told BBC Radio Suffolk.
