Luke Offord, the Crewe captain sent off against Carlisle United in mid-week, has felt the wrath of his manager Lee Bell.
The 23-year-old centre-half, the latest star product off the prolific Crewe Academy production line now faces a three-match suspension.
Bell told the club website: “I have let him know what I think. I will have to see it back but everyone has told me what has happened and he has accepted what happened so he has obviously done wrong and you are let down by your captain in that manner.
“I have let him know. We have had a chat and that will stay between me and the players but obviously he has let everybody down.”
The home side were already 2-0 down when he was red carded on 51 minutes after referee Andy Haines spotted him striking Jack Stretton off the ball.
The youth graduate is one match away from 100 league starts for the club and he has been a stand-out player this season and one the team is undoubtedly going to miss.
He had only returned to the team for the Carlisle game after serving a one-match ban for five bookings, a suspension held back because Crewe had games postponed by the freeze.
Crewe are at home to Tranmere on Sunday as they try to end a run of four successive defeats and they are sinking into relegation trouble.
His manager accepted that the incident came out largely through frustration and was out of character but is something that should not have boiled over as it did.
Bell said: “We need our captain. We have not seen him for three weeks now, we have not had a game but he has had three weeks out and is going to potentially have another three weeks out now. We need our captain. We need everybody, not just the captain, we need everybody to stand up and be counted.
“That is what I will be doing. I am here and will be ready to face any music that comes, ready to fight and turn performances around.”
