Here's what Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan said in 2011 after Patrice Evra was racially abused by Luis Suarez.
Wigan Athletic hire Malky Mackay as new manager
10 other teams passed over Mackay. Dave Whelan is unfazed by his record.
Christopher Lee/Getty Images
”If a white man insults a black man, that’s big, big news. If, if, a black man insults a white man, that’s nothing, and it’s expected.
”So I just think we should forget colour, and, you know, it doesn’t bother anybody, I’m sure, colour and.... sometimes a footballer... erm, when they’re playing at such a level... you know the stress is there.
”And if, if, they call somebody white, if they call somebody black, you’ve just got to get on with it.
”You know I think the players who come and complain sometimes, they’re a little bit out of order.
“The game is a game, the game is a football game, whether you’re white, black, pink, red, it doesn’t matter. We’re all, we’re all equal, and we all play football, and we should get on with it.”
Here is a selection of the bigoted text messages that former Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay sent while he was employed by that club.
On the arrival of South Korean international Kim Bo-Kyung:
“Fkn chinkys. Fk it. There’s enough dogs in Cardiff for us all to go around.”
On football agent Phil Smith:
“Go on, fat Phil. Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers”
On transfer target list:
“Not many white faces amongst that lot but worth considering.”
On a player’s female agent:
“I hope she’s looking after your needs. I bet you’d love a bounce on her falsies.”
On an official at another club:
“He’s a snake, a gay snake. Not to be trusted”
To members of Cardiff’s staff:
A picture entitled ‘Black Monopoly’ - where every square was a “Go to Jail” square
On Wednesday, despite being passed over for vacancies at 10 other Championship clubs, Mackay was hired by Whelan to manage Wigan Athletic.
“I know that this appointment will draw criticism in some quarters but we go into it with our eyes open and we have nothing to hide on this subject,” said Whelan. “Contrary to the way he has been portrayed in recent months, the Malky Mackay I met this week, and who has been vouched for by the many different people from whom we have sought advice before making this appointment, is an honourable man.”
To quote our own Callum Hamilton, “Mackay’s leaked texts to Ian Moody revealed a veritable smorgasbord of bigotry. Black people, Asians, women, Jews, gay people; he had the whole lot, a retro form of blanket bigotry we thought we’d never see the like of again.” And it should be unsurprising that the one chairman of a prominent club willing to look past this was Dave Whelan.
“I think Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else. I don’t think that’s offensive at all.”
He followed this up by using the defense that everyone who makes racist remarks uses.
Dave Whelan on Sky: "I have got hundreds and hundreds of Jewish friends. I would never upset any Jewish person"
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) November 20, 2014 Astonishing.
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