Comment: Aston Villa skipper Jack Grealish puts his own reputation under threat

“All it takes is for one thing to go wrong and it all comes down on you like a ton of bricks,” he said.

Just a few weeks on, Grealish has learned just how prophetic those words were. Most infuriatingly of all, he knows he has only himself to blame.

The apology, when it arrived last night, was contrite. Grealish did not need telling how foolish he had been.

And yet there he had been, pictured on Sunday morning in the characterless commuter village of Dickens Heath, close to where a Range Rover had crashed into two parked cars, having spent the previous night attending a gathering at the flat of former team-mate Ross McCormack, just hours after urging supporters to do the opposite and stay at home.

The following hours saw Grealish spoken to by police about the incident and though he is not expected to face any charges, there is no avoiding the damage to a reputation he has worked so hard to repair after the early days of his career were blighted by off-field indiscretions.

At a time of national crisis, football and footballers are required to take a watching brief, yet instead Grealish made himself a story at a time when those other than the coronavirus are thin on the ground.

By yesterday morning the opinions were already starting to flow and though it is unlikely to be the thoughts of Piers Morgan or Harry Redknapp which concern Grealish right now, Morgan’s exasperated ‘what were you thinking?’ retort is one which will be echoed by both his critics and friends in the days to come.

Villa are understandably furious Grealish put himself in such a position at a time when the club, like every other in the country, have been trying to do their bit to help the national effort against the coronavirus.

Grealish is for many the face of Villa and any hit on his reputation will be felt by them too. Donating his fine, thought to total around £150,000, to the University Hospitals Charity is at least a start at repairing the damage.

Perhaps even more interesting is what England manager Gareth Southgate, watching from afar, might make of it all.

The irony is that were it not for the pandemic, Grealish would likely have been nowhere near Dickens Heath on Sunday morning.

Instead, he would have been with the England squad, after receiving the maiden senior call-up many expected to be deservedly heading his way.

Southgate had wanted time to establish the questionable lifestyle choices which hampered Grealish’s early career truly were a thing of the past.

Steadily he like many others became confident that, at the age of 24, Grealish was ready both in ability and mentality to take the next step in his career.

After last weekend Southgate, like the rest of us, is left to question whether he really is ready after all.