Hmmm...club captain knowingly asks for or accepts (?) - we’ll never know - lift home from over the limit driver. The journey ends in a car crash and as a result the club captain cannot play (work) for the following nine months...aka the rest of the season.
Justifiably annoyed owner, and wage payer, suggests player/senior employee accepts reduced wage (alleged to be a mere £12k per week) during the period he is unable to play.
Player doesn’t accept this and declines the offer before leaving the club and eventually gaining alternative employment and is then declared eligible for £2.3m in compensation.

Must be the difference between legality and morality. Perhaps someone could explain what our former hero is being ‘compensated’ for.