Off the field at City, Fowler and McManaman were caught up in a sex scandal that appeared in the "News of the World" following a failed attempt by the pair to gain an injunction to prevent publication, costing them £50,000 in addition to making the case look like an invariable admission of guilt. The court case came fast on the heels of football's "roasting" and rape allegations at Chelsea earlier that year and served only to exacerbate their situations and affected their reputations off and on the pitch at the club, while an incident involving Fowler and McManaman and three other players deliberately missing the team bus at Leicester also did not go down well with the fans, manager and media.