That's around the time when he went absent without leave whilst at Blackpool. The club had no idea where he was for months! This is another example of why players should have licence to play. If there's misconduct (morally or legally) and they lose it. System works in other sports and would soon stop them behaving like dicks.
Phelps is a prime example. One of the biggest, if not the biggest sports star of the year was banned from competing for 6 months due to a DUI charge. It had nothing to do with swimming but was still the right thing to do.