Every top footballer fears being sent to the bomb squad.
It is often viewed as a place of exile, either because you are surplus to requirements or because you’re on football’s equivalent of the naughty step.
And for former Premier League winger Jermaine Pennant, it was the latter.
But in the eyes of the former Arsenal and Liverpool star, it was a case of ‘wrong end of the stick’ as he took his punishment.
The misdemeanour saw Pennant’s Stoke City career flip upside down in the space of a week.
He could have gone out on loan, but ended up being banished to the stands by Potters boss Tony Pulis and forced to train with the academy hopefuls in the ‘bomb squad’.
“When we played Everton at Goodison Park, I thought I was in the squad and he (Pulis) put me in the stands,” Pennant recalled on talkSPORT.
“He (had previously) stopped me from going out on loan to Leeds. He said ‘I want you, you’re going to be part of my plans. You’re going to be in the squad on Saturday.’
But things quickly took an unexpected turn for Pennant who was nowhere to be seen by the time kick off rolled around.
“He did his teamsheet and I’m in the stands,” he added.
“So I’m thinking, you stopped me going out on loan and playing football and now I’m in the stands?”
But worse was to come as a momentary period of jubilation indirectly led to conflict and jeopardy over his Stoke future.
Pennant added: “After the game, I was in the changing rooms and the horses were on so I put on a cheeky bet and it came through, I won.
“We ended up losing the game 1-0, a score I didn’t know at the time but as the coaching staff came in, I looked at my phone and I started celebrating.
“But I was celebrating because my horse came in. They thought I was celebrating because we lost 1-0.
“The next day we (Pennant and Pulis) almost had a fight. When I arrived at training, he said, ‘We don’t want to see your face ever again. Go and train with the kids’.
“I ended up doing pre-season at a university with the kids.”
Pennant spent three years at Stoke under Pulis which included a short-term loan at Wolves.
The initial deal came after the completion of a successful four-month loan at the start of the 2010/11 season.
The transfer was made permanent by Pulis to the delight of the winger who signed a two-and-a-half year deal for a fee of £1.725million rising to £2.8m.
“I think everyone knows how I feel about being at this football club,” Pennant said after finalising his transfer.
“The supporters, players and management have been absolutely fantastic to me over these past four months and I desperately wanted to stay here because I love it so much.
“I know I have only been here a few months, but it really does feel like I have been here for years. The atmosphere around the place is brilliant, so I am looking forward to the fact that I am here at Stoke now for the long term and back in the best league in the world.”
Pennant went on to play 89 times for the Potters, scoring four goals in the process before leaving the club to join Indian club Pune City in 2014.
