Steven Gerrard's extortionate Aston Villa fines list stuns Peter Crouch and Steve Sidwell

Steven Gerrard was a hard taskmaster during his brief time in charge at Aston Villa and it seems his strict fines are still a big talking point

Peter Crouch and Steve Sidwell have voiced their astonishment at the fines imposed by Steven Gerrard during his tenure as Aston Villa manager. Despite a challenging stint with Villa, the ex-Liverpool star maintained strict discipline, with fines and penalties being commonplace for his squad.

Even though Gerrard departed Villa in 2022 and currently manages Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League, his infamous, and occasionally peculiar financial penalties, continue to be a topic of conversation.

In the latest episode of 'That Peter Crouch Podcast', co-host Chris Stark brought up Gerrard's reputation for strict discipline, prompting reactions from Gerrard's former team-mate Crouch and ex-Reading player Sidwell. Gerrard's fines varied, with a hefty £500 penalty for tardiness to training, while arriving late for a meeting or the team coach would cost players an astonishing £200 per minute missed.

Gerrard, who was in charge at Villa Park for less than a year, also extended his fondness for fining players to those who wore inappropriate clothing on match days - a mistake that would result in a £100 fine for each disallowed item worn.

The former England international also ran a strict dining room, where players who left plates, cups, and other items on the dinner table were fined £100 for each item they failed to clear.

Upon learning about Gerrard's strict approach to financial discipline, Crouch couldn't hide his astonishment. Speaking about Gerrard's method of fining players for each missed meeting minute, the former Stoke striker exclaimed: "£200 a minute? What if you forget and don't turn up for two hours?"

Sidwell joined the conversation, questioning whether there was a cap on such steep fines, adding: "I think I've seen this before and, I don't know whether it was 'true' or not, purely because of the amounts. Because that is extortionate."

However, it seemed Gerrard's rules for fiscal penalties only grew more extravagant. Another stipulation was if a player got sent off, they were required to treat the entire team to dinner within four weeks of the red card and, while both Crouch and Sidwell appeared to appreciate this specific rule, Crouch voiced some reservations.

"What happens if it's a professional foul and it saves your team?" asked the ex-England international. "It might save you a point and you still have to take them for dinner? Maybe someone could chip in like, 'you helped us out there, let me put some money into this.'"

While at Villa, Gerrard also insisted that the worst player on the small-sided games before the season's first game - as voted for by the winning team - would have to wear a jumper emblazoned with 'I was the worst trainer'. Sidwell then confessed he had a history with the embarrassing ruling.

"That's matchday minus one, so the day before the game you do a few set-pieces, and it ends in five-aside which, nine times out of ten gets heated, as everyone wants to win the five-aside," he said. "The worst player from that has to wear the jersey for the following Friday before the next game."

Crouch also revealed some of the more unusual practices at his previous clubs, detailing how players were held accountable for their performance or any breach of discipline.

"We did it at Stoke and Portsmouth, where we had the A-Team car, the three-wheeler and you had to drive it in, and you had to add something to the car (If you broke club rules)," he said.

"We also had, at Stoke, if someone gave the ball away then someone would shout 'contender' and then you'd be nervous (about keeping the ball)."Sidwell revealed that during his time at Villa in the early to mid-2000s, players were subjected to a humiliating ritual. He explained: "We had one at Villa, and it was just a yellow t-shirt, and it just had loads of stuff written on it like 'donkey' or 's**t player' and after the session.

"Wally the coach would then go around and collect votes on a piece of paper (to see who the worst trainer was) but sometimes you knew, like: 'It was a horrendous day, boys - just give me the shirt'."