Southend United have signed a player currently on bail after being charged with affray, assault and causing grievous bodily harm to help their bid to stay in the Football League.
Midfielder Jacob Mellis, 30, signed for the rock bottom League Two club on Monday just before the transfer deadline.
In January last year, Mellis pleaded not guilty to all the charges relating to an incident in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire on August 16, 2019.
The trial at Nottingham Crown Court was set for November 30 but was postponed until March 1 because of Covid-19.
His co-accused Dion Donohue, who was sacked by Mansfield Town in the wake of the alleged assaults, pleaded guilty to the charges of affray, GBH and assault.
Mellis has signed for Southend from Gillingham where he spent the first half of the season.
In March 2012, Mellis was sacked by Chelsea after setting off a smoke grenade at the club's Cobham training ground, causing a full-scale evacuation of the centre.
Mellis had made one Champions League appearance for Chelsea having come through the club's academy.
Mellis has since played for Barnsley, Blackpool, Oldham Athletic, Bury, Mansfield, Bolton and Gillingham before joining Southend on deadline day.
Controversial striker Nile Ranger could also be returning to Southend.
Ranger was a Southend player when he was jailed for eight months for online banking fraud in May 2017 after one woman targeted lost more than £2,000 in the scam. He served 10 weeks of the sentence.
He was released by the Shrimpers in January 2018 for poor time-keeping but has been training with the club in recent weeks and manager Marc Molesley is keen to get him playing again.
'I've been working with Nile behind the scenes away from the group,' Molesley said at the weekend.
'We've put him on a fitness programme and he's worked really hard. But it will be up to Nile Ranger.
'If he wants to carry on and work hard there might be an offer for him. It's still early days but he has been working hard.'