Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has indicated that Jermaine Pennant's off-field woes have not affected his opportunities on the pitch.
The 29-year old winger was this week arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman in a nightclub before later being involved in a car accident and charged with drink-driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.
Pennant will attend court on May 9 to discover his fate and Pulis says the club will stick by him but denied calls that his misdemeanours had cost him chances at Stoke.
"Obviously this affects us because it's inside the football club. The most important thing is to see exactly what happened and then speak to the kid about it.
"Lads are lads. They've got a lot of money but they have a responsibility not only to their football clubs but to the youngsters in the community and everybody in the community. It's very important they understand that.
"Having said that, none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes. So you have to accept that people are sometimes going to slip and fall over, and sometimes you need people who are going to pick them up and help them.
"Some people fall over more than others. That's the problem.""Whatever Jermaine has done outside of Stoke City, he's done outside of Stoke City," Pulis said.
