IRELAND INTERNATIONAL RICHARD Keogh has reportedly been sacked by his club Derby County. 

The 33-year-old, club captain at the Championship side, suffered serious injuries to his knee last month as passenger in a car his team-mate Tom Lawrence was driving, which crashed into a lamppost. 

Lawrence and fellow Derby County player Mason Bennett were both arrested for drink-driving at the scene, but avoided jail — receiving two-year driving bans and 12-month community orders at Derby Magistrates Court a fortnight ago. 

The Derby squad had been out on a team-bonding night, but several players opted against going home in cars arranged by the club in order to stay out drinking past their curfew.

Damage to Keogh’s anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his knee required surgery, ruling him out of action for up to 15 months. 

The club condemned the actions of the experienced skipper at the time and, according to a report in the Guardian this evening, Derby have now cut their ties with the centre-half. 

Keogh’s contract was set to expire in June 2020 and he was ordered to take a significant pay cut if he wished to see out the deal. When he turned down the reduced salary, the report claims that the Rams told him he was no longer employed by them.  

Both Lawrence and Bennett are still on the books at Derby, and the pair have returned to playing for the first team since the incident. 

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