Kenwyne Jones Fined £80k by Stoke City for Texting Boss to Say He Wouldn't Play

Kenwyne Jones' Stoke City career looks to be coming to an end after the striker was fined two weeks' wages—around £80k—for telling manager Mark Hughes that he wasn't available to play against Liverpool at the weekend by text message.

Jones has been linked with a move elsewhere in the top flight, according to the Daily Mail, with Everton and Swansea amongst his suitors. 

The paper reports that Stoke management scarcely believed what Jones was doing until he failed to turn up:

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Jones, who has six months left on his contract, contacted his manager on Saturday night to say he had no intention of turning up at the Britannia Stadium.

Stoke were unsure whether he would carry through his threat but it became evident that the 29-year-old would not be playing after he failed to attend the team's pre-match meal at the club's Clayton Wood training ground.

Hughes was understandably furious and his only comment to media who enquired after the 5-3 defeat to Liverpool was that Jones had been 'unavailable'. 

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You'd think that a player who displays that kind of attitude might struggle to get a move, but of course, this being football, such indiscretions are soon forgiven if you can do a job for a team.

Whether the Trinidadian does so at Stoke remains to be seen, but having lost the match to Liverpool 5-3, Hughes could certainly do without his players texting him their unavailability.