Dave Whelan has accepted a Football Association charge of misconduct over remarks he made in the media, including to the Guardian, following his appointment of Malky Mackay as the Wigan Athletic manager. Whelan also told the FA he was “misquoted and misrepresented”.
The FA confirmed it had received a response to the charge of aggravated misconduct, aggravated by Whelan’s comments having included references to ethnic origin, race, nationality, religion or belief.
The charge followed Whelan’s appointment on 19 November of Mackay, who is still under FA investigation for alleged racism. While the manager of Cardiff City, Mackay exchanged texts and emails with the club’s then head of recruitment, Iain Moody, which included calling the Malaysian owner of Cardiff City, Vincent Tan, a “chink”. Whelan told the Guardian the following day that Mackay’s other emails included one that referred to the football agent Phil Smith and said of him: “Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers.”
Whelan said he did not think Mackay “did a lot wrong” and that neither comment was offensive. He told the Guardian: “Calling a Chinaman a chink is nothing,” explaining: “If any Englishman said he has never called a Chinaman a chink he is lying.”
Whelan said: “There is nothing bad about doing that. It is like calling the British Brits, or the Irish paddies,” and is “not doing a lot of damage”.
Of Mackay’s reference to Smith, Whelan said that, too, was not offensive, because in his view Mackay was saying Jewish people “love money” as “English people” do: “Jews don’t like losing money. Nobody likes losing money,” he said.
Asked whether he did not think that was offensive, because the claim that Jews love money has been used as a negative stereotype, Whelan said: “Do you think Jewish people chase money a little bit more than we do? I think they are very shrewd people.” Asked if he believed that, Whelan said: “I think Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else. I don’t think that is offensive at all, because they are shrewd people.”
The remarks drew an angry response from Jewish and Chinese organisations which called on the FA to act. The FA charged Whelan with aggravated misconduct, under its rule 3(1) that covers conduct likely to bring the game into disrepute.
Neither Wigan nor Whelan’s solicitor were prepared to comment on his reported response to the charge.
