A solicitor told the Leeds United trial today he would have risked his career and possibly his freedom if he had advised a soccer star to lie to police.
Earlier in the case, former England Under-21 international Michael Duberry claimed he had been told by lawyer Peter McCormick not to change his story over an attack on a university student last year that did not tell all he knew.
But McCormick, head of his own law firm and an associate director of Leeds United, denied ever telling Duberry to lie.
He told the jury at Hull Crown Court: "If it was proved that I advised a client in that way, it would be the end of my career and I suspect my freedom as well".
Leeds players Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer deny assault charges at Hull Crown Court over an attack on Sarfraz Najeib in January last year in Leeds city centre.
Earlier in the case, Duberry said Woodgate had told him a friend had bitten the victim but that Duberry had been advised by McCormick not to change his original statement in which no mention of that was made.
Duberry (26) was later accused with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice but was cleared in an earlier hearing after telling the court of Woodgate's alleged involvement.
McCormick said today that he had warned Duberry that if the player lied in the statement he could face prosecution for perverting the course of justice and if the case went to court and he lied, he could face a charge of perjury and possibly a jail sentence.
"He told me he had done nothing wrong and had not seen anyone else doing wrong and he had not seen any criminal activity," said McCormick.
After he had given the witness statement, the police interviewing Duberry said they did not think they had "got to the bottom" of what had happened, McCormick told the court.
But Duberry, said the solicitor, claimed he had told the officers everything he knew and could remember nothing further.
"I reminded him of the consequences of him not telling the truth but he said he had nothing to add to what he had said."
Less than three weeks later, Duberry was again questioned by police and then charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
McCormick said he had asked Duberry if he wanted to change his story but that the player had declined.
When he was asked by Nigel Sangster, representing Paul Clifford, who allegedly bit Sarfraz, if Duberry had been telling the truth when he claimed that he had lied "through my teeth" because of his solicitor, McCormick said: "There is no truth in that whatsoever. It was entirely the reverse.
"I was telling him that if he had told the police anything that was untrue, then now was the time to tell the truth."
Woodgate, 21, from Middlesbrough, Bowyer, 24, from Wetherby, West Yorks and two of Woodgate's friends, Paul Clifford and Neale Caveney, both 21, and from Middlesbrough, deny assaulting Sarfraz, causing him grievous bodily harm with intent and affray. The trial continues.