Luke in on One Year Contract

Quote :

gt_pafc 0 likes
I am a father of two boys. I am also a Plymouth Argyle supporter. It is not up to Argyle to comment on the adequacy or otherwise of the sentence handed down by the justice system. The rules for ALL prisoners is you entitled to release on licence after you have served 50% of your sentence in prison, so there is no "special case" here. Its better to rehabilitate offenders and using their tax money to benefit society, than paying benefits to them because you are denying them a job.
I wouldn't say playing for a struggling league 2 team shows a "bright future" either, and the prospects of having an Argyle game televised are laughable anyway!!
Luke will be working in front of a few thousand customers every week, and not having a "wealthy life" in the public eye. Let him get on with it, he has paid his debt to society.


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so the green tarveners are political after all.

Dane. wrote:

Without defending what he done , because he was terribly irresponsible, and it makes me sick thinking about what he done

but those kids where in a car on a motor way with no seat belt on !!!

Can you evidence that please?

"No intent"...

He was pissed and had intent enough to get behind the wheel of a 2 tonne machine which travels at speeds of 80mph...

Mock Cuncher wrote:

"No intent"...

He was pissed and had intent enough to get behind the wheel of a 2 tonne machine which travels at speeds of 80mph...

Dont matter what you are doing there is a big differance between "intention" to cause someone harm, and "intention to get home".

Also he was over the limit, there is a big differance between being "pissed" and "being over the limit" depending how much over the limit you are.

Some people can be 3 to four times over the limit and still function properly

And no im not condoning what he done, but it was a piss poor decision, which led to an accident with tragic circumstances.

All the Presidents Men wrote:

Dane. wrote:

Without defending what he done , because he was terribly irresponsible, and it makes me sick thinking about what he done

but those kids where in a car on a motor way with no seat belt on !!!

Can you evidence that please?

I think most people know that was common knowledge and it was kept out of court.

But thats beside the point really, with the state of their car, its very likely they wouldnt have survived anyhow.

The father was over the limit too it transpired. It's been mentioned by myself and others on here too

Han Solos Other Ship wrote:

The father was over the limit too it transpired. It's been mentioned by myself and others on here too

its a lesson we can all learn from all the sides involved

dont drink and drive
dont drink and then drive the next morning
clunk click everytrip

Han Solos Other Ship wrote:

The father was over the limit too it transpired. It's been mentioned by myself and others on here too

I must admit I've heard exactly this from many different people all unrelated to eachother. Don't mean this to come across as stirring, it probably will but hey ho just passing on what I heard.

How low will the current regime stoop?
He should never play for PAFC again as far as I'm concerned. I have never heard of anyone being re-employed by a company after an act of gross misconduct. I'm not saying he should not play football again but preferably not here. And as for saying he won't have a fancy lifestyle playing for a league 2 club, he will have a better lifestyle than many working class people.
Seems like another master (or not) stroke from the Brent brigade

1) He is a convenient and brilliant diversion from the Grandstand

2) He's very, very cheap.

I don't believe he's a diversion at all. That's way too conspiratorial. I would very much doubt Sheridan would have wanted him to sign so the owner can divert attention away from the general consensus surrounding the grandstand. I also find blaming the victims in this quite unpleasant - did they deserve it?

I've said in the previous thread - there was no booing when he played against us. I'm sure that most on here wouldn't confront him and call him a 'child murderer'. I didn't agree with the 'Super Luke' chant as it felt strangely wrong. I didn't think it was orchestrated - it just happened - as most chants do at football stadiums. I don,t mind him coming here to play; he's a footballer, we're a football club, we need players.

There are lots of other players. I just don't understand us re-employing someone who we sacked for gross misconduct. It wouldn't happen in any other line of business

I would rather he wasn't at Argyle!

It wasn't gross misconduct it was a crime unrelated to his job. I've already said however that I would rather it wasn't here. Hairyj was only stealing my lines in his first para regarding the diversion though. We've signed him so it's all a mute point now anyway.

Having just joined ATD I feel I need to make a few points on what is a difficult subject. If I could give you briefly my background. I was Traffic Police Officer in Plymouth for nearly 23 years, and as a Accident Investigator, attended literally hundreds of serious and fatal traffic accidents. A great number were caused by drivers who were over the drink/driving limit, but the main causes were excess speed and emerging from junctions etc.

With Luke McCormick, I am lead to believe that he was and still is a personable young man, and no doubt did not set out to commit the horrific act that resulted on that day. I also believe that not one day will pass with him not thinking about what happened, even if it is only for a few seconds.

I am a believer in the Rehabilitation of Offenders for someone like him. He is not a hardened criminal with a lifetime of crime behind him, but someone who has made one huge mistake. He has served his sentence, and whatever that length was, it was set down by law.

Prior to these events he was a top class goalkeeper, so I wonder if he can return to this standard. Time will now tell. If he can then we will have a goalie second to none in this league.

Having said all this however, I will not be screaming out about 'Super Luke' (as some on another site are suggesting) but will neither boo him. I have been going to Home Park since my dear old dad took me to my first game in 1956, and I am an Argyle fan first and foremost.

I think this matter will not go away quickly as there is certainly a divided opinion.

It wasn't quite unrelated tho. The nature of the business means that his actions could have repurcussions to the employer and therefore is related to the job

Welcome JonAnton.

I mean not job related in the sense that it had nothing to do with football like punching another employee for example. It was something done after the end of season so even the drinking bit didn't abuse the training regime. I've no doubt his contract was terminated because he was going to jail rather than anything else. I'm sure there are plenty of cases where people haven't lost their jobs because of something unrelated to their work. The only difference here is the job is more high profile that many others where publicity isn't good for the employer but that's the only bit relating to the job.

GreenSam wrote:

Han Solos Other Ship wrote:

The father was over the limit too it transpired. It's been mentioned by myself and others on here too

I must admit I've heard exactly this from many different people all unrelated to eachother. Don't mean this to come across as stirring, it probably will but hey ho just passing on what I heard.

Oh well, it must be true then!!!

Chinese whispers maybe?

Do you not think the police would have had a field day on this?

If we terminated his contract because of the incident, what makes it ok to resume normal business now, yet another cheap, cheap move by Mr £ames £rent!

He should not be here, end of!

JonAnton wrote:

Having just joined ATD I feel I need to make a few points on what is a difficult subject. If I could give you briefly my background. I was Traffic Police Officer in Plymouth for nearly 23 years, and as a Accident Investigator, attended literally hundreds of serious and fatal traffic accidents. A great number were caused by drivers who were over the drink/driving limit, but the main causes were excess speed and emerging from junctions etc.

With Luke McCormick, I am lead to believe that he was and still is a personable young man, and no doubt did not set out to commit the horrific act that resulted on that day. I also believe that not one day will pass with him not thinking about what happened, even if it is only for a few seconds.

I am a believer in the Rehabilitation of Offenders for someone like him. He is not a hardened criminal with a lifetime of crime behind him, but someone who has made one huge mistake. He has served his sentence, and whatever that length was, it was set down by law.

Prior to these events he was a top class goalkeeper, so I wonder if he can return to this standard. Time will now tell. If he can then we will have a goalie second to none in this league.

Having said all this however, I will not be screaming out about 'Super Luke' (as some on another site are suggesting) but will neither boo him. I have been going to Home Park since my dear old dad took me to my first game in 1956, and I am an Argyle fan first and foremost.

I think this matter will not go away quickly as there is certainly a divided opinion.

Very good first post which sums up my feelings nicely. Oddly enough my first game was in 1956 when I was 18 so could drive from North Devon.

Pepsi sets out on his first trip to Home Park. Leaving North Devon on the Wednesday evening, he was super confident he'd make Saturdays 3pm kick-off....


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Unsubstantiated rumours about a red headed female dropping Pepsipete home after the game after the greens were panned by Londinium...

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I don't think it matters if the kids had seatbelts on or not, and the father being over the limit is just as likely to be bullshit as it is true.

Luke McCormick didn't just have 3 or 4 pints, get 8 hours sleep and then drive on the Sunday morning. He was feckin hammered, drinking huge amounts of alcohol and wanted to drive home that night until he was persuaded not to by others.

He would've drove if he wasn't stopped and strangely enough he would probably not have caused so much destruction if he had driven when totally bolloxed.

Of course offenders need rehabilitation but surely he should keep his head down? Move abroad maybe, but not be back playing for us again.

Would Ian Huntley be able to go back to being a school caretaker in 40 years? If he told everyone how sorry he was for what he had done? I know everyone knows that Ian Huntley deliberately killed those girls but he claims it was an accident so why is he not given the benefit of the doubt and maybe all he knows is being a school caretaker so should he be rehabilitated and allowed to pursue his former career?

Of course not, but what if he were released in 30years time and still needed to earn a living. What profession should he consider? What if he was proven to have a mental illness and had been undergoing treatment for years and the Drs all agreed that he was cured? He would never be able to do the same thing again as he would be watched like a hawk, but the families of the 2 dead girls would be made aware of him being employed again at a school and how would they feel?

I would like to think that McCormick would never be so stupid as to drink drive again, if he was ever allowed to drive again I don't know the rules on that, but he is allowed to drink again and it's already been proven that he makes some stupid bloody decisions when drunk so I would just rather he wasn't back at Argyle which all seems worse than if he were elsewhere.

I wonder how it will look if we get promoted next season and the cameras are showing Luke McCormick spraying Champagne around and swigging from the bottle whilst celebrating?

He'll be allowed to drive again, usually get a 12 month ban and potentially have to re-take his test. Insurance will go up, too.

What bothers me is why the feck have we signed him anyway