Joleon Lescott has stuck with the story which explained his controversial tweet in the wake of Aston Villa’s thrashing by Liverpool over five years ago.
Lescott was part of the Remi Garde side which was embarrassed 6-0 at Villa Park in February 2016.
It was the club's biggest home defeat in 81 years and left them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table, eight points from safety with 12 matches left to play.
Goals from Daniel Sturridge, James Milner, Emre Can, Divock Origi, Nathaniel Clyne and Kolo Toure sent Villa supporters home furious.
Those who went on Twitter after the final whistle were further wound up by an utterly bizarre tweet from Lescott, which was posted just 15 minutes after the game.
The defender had tweeted a picture of a brand new silver Mercedes-AMG S 63 Coupe, worth £121,690, without any caption.
He quickly went viral and was branded “inappropriate” and “disrespectful”, alongside some much harsher choices of words, before he offered an explanation.
“I'm not one for tweeting after games whether it's a good, bad or indifferent results but I would like to apologise for the performance today, personally and collectively,” Lescott wrote in a statement at the time.
“Liverpool are and were better than us today but that doesn't excuse mine and the team's lack of commitment for the 90 minutes. Again, apologies to all the fans.
“I would like to add that the tweet sent out from my account involving a picture of a car was totally accidental. It happened whilst driving and my phone was in my pocket.”
That explanation was not widely believed at the time, but the 39-year-old, who retired from playing in 2017, has now doubled down on it.
HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you make of Joleon Lescott's excuse? Comment below.
On Monday, Lescott was asked by a follower in a Twitter Q&A: “How do you tweet a picture of a car from your pocket?”
He replied: “The picture happened to be a car which was the latest picture I’d received at the time,” he wrote.
“But it happens the same way people pocket deal [sic] I’m gonna guess. There being a name for it suggests it happens often to people.”
It’s safe to say people were not convinced.
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“Pocket Tweeting isn’t a thing. Just admit it for goodness sake,” one fan wrote underneath his tweet.
“I believe you, Joleon,” another added. “I accidentally pocket dialled a Maserati garage once. Accidentally ordered a MC20. Easily done.”
“There's pocket dialling and then there's pocket tweeting. Defo doesn't happen. But thanks for clearing it up,” said another.
“How is he still pretending like it was an accident,” replied one fan.
“still sticking with the pocket story?!?! Outstanding,” said another.
