United manager Greg Abbott spoke this afternoon about the news, revealed today, that keeper Lenny Pidgeley had been stopped for a drink driving offence in Cumbria at the weekend.

He said: "We're not going to say too much about the incident because we still have to meet with the board to discuss it.

"I've consulted the PFA, the LMA and I have spoken to a Premier League club who have a similar incident. I'm disappointed with it, but what we will do is deal with it as a club after our consultation with all of those people, and whatever we decide to do will be kept in-house.

"It's something that we're not pleased about one little bit, but we'll deal with it. The big man feels that he has let himself down, he knows that, and you can see by looking at him that he is hurting at the moment. He knows all of the 'could have happened' type consequences of doing something like this, but it's my job to manage Lenny through what is a difficult situation now."

"I can't do anything about the publicity that a case like this might bring," he added, "but we've had good and bad publicity in the past for various reasons. Sometimes you listen to it and sometimes you take it on board. With a situation as serious as the one Lenny is in, you've got to take it on the chin. As a group of players it will probably end up making us closer, but that doesn't move us away from the fact that what he has done is not acceptable or condonable. However, the criticism shouldn't be labelled at the other players because it is something that has happened outside of football."