Kick It Out takes aim at Wigan for hiring Malky Mackay as manager

Posted Thursday, November 20, 2014 by theguardian.com

· Former Cardiff manager under investigation for racist texts
· Kick It Out questions whether FA will charge Mackay
· Dave Whelan: ‘what he’s done is tiny really in real terms’
· ‘Honourable man’ Mackay named Wigan manager

Kick It Out takes aim at Wigan for hiring Malky Mackay as manager
Wigan Athletic's new manager Malky Mackay, right, and Dave Whelan explain their situation.

Wigan Athletic’s appointment of Malky Mackay as their manager predictably led to a row on day one with the Kick It Out anti-racism group, which accused the Championship club of jumping the gun on a Football Association investigation.

"Wigan Athletic have disregarded the ongoing investigation being undertaken by the FA, and any potential punishment Mackay may face, by taking the decision to appoint him,” a Kick It Out spokesman said. “We need to see leadership from club owners and a respect for the processes in place to demonstrate how seriously they are tackling issues of exclusion, prejudice and discrimination.”

Dave Whelan, the club owner in question, did contact the FA before making the appointment but seems satisfied no action is imminent. If the FA does intend to place sanctions on Mackay for information it received in August, it is fair to say it is taking its time. “I don’t think there is anything in the pipeline,” the Wigan chairman said. “We have put something in the contract so that the club is protected if the FA does decide to do something but I personally don’t see what there is to investigate. Malky has admitted sending the texts, and accepted he was wrong.”

In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday night Whelan added: “What he’s done is tiny really in real terms, we all get a name of some description and we don’t take a blind bit of notice.”

Formerly the manager at Cardiff City, Mackay lost the chance to take over at Crystal Palace in August when the Welsh club forwarded a dossier to the FA which included several private text conversations between him and his then head of recruitment, Iain Moody. Some of the texts were sexist, racist and homophobic in nature and Mackay has not worked since. When his name began to be linked with Wigan the town’s MP, Lisa Nandy, wrote to Whelan warning him several of her constituents had expressed opposition to the appointment.

"I respect her opinion but when I looked at her letter I thought she was wrong,” Whelan said. “She is not a Wigan lass, so she doesn’t understand football. I don’t think she has ever been to a football match. I invited her to Wembley for the FA Cup final and she didn’t accept. I intend to invite her to come and watch a home game this season, have a meal with us, and if she accepts I will introduce her to Malky. My message to the fans, as well as the MP, is to trust me on this. I have investigated every single aspect of the matter and talked to a lot of people whose opinions I respect. Everyone said he has the reputation of being a first-class manager and I am convinced he is exactly the man we are looking for.”

"Lots of things have happened at this club since we came up from the Fourth Division, including winning the FA Cup, but through it all we have always been a happy club and I am sure that is what we will remain. I think Malky Mackay will be a brilliant manager for Wigan Athletic.”

Mackay revealed he has been on a diversity education course, something he intends to keep up, but did not feel his text transgressions would make it difficult to work with the ethnic minorities represented at Wigan. “I’ve been in football for 18 years, I have worked and dealt with footballers from all sorts of backgrounds, and as a manager my door is always open to anyone who wants to have a discussion about anything. I have made mistakes but I am not a racist. I don’t think anyone who knows me or has worked with me would say that about me, and I have had a lot of support from people in football over the last few months. I never thought about not coming back to the game, football is my life.

"People have told me to stay strong, get back up and get moving forward again and that is what I am trying to do. It’s not been a case of feeling sorry for myself, it’s been about educating myself. I now know that whether the texts were public or private doesn’t matter, I shouldn’t have done it. I am very respectful of the FA’s investigation, whatever they ask of me I will be open with them, but as far as I am concerned I wanted to get back to work.

"I am grateful to Mr Whelan for allowing me the honour of managing his club, I was actually at the 2013 FA Cup final with my son so I know first hand about some of the things Wigan have achieved. It is a little bit ironic to find myself back here as manager and I am proud to have the opportunity. Everyone will have their own opinion about what happened at Cardiff, but I would ask people to judge me on what they see at Wigan Athletic.”

Whelan said he had confronted Mackay straight away about the infamous texts, and been impressed by the honesty of his answers. “He put everything on the table and I totally believed him,” the owner said. “He was apologetic and open and completely up front about it, and that’s an approach I like. I believe in honesty and facing up to problems.

"We had a situation here a few years ago similar to the one currently going on at Sheffield United. One of our players [Marlon King] went to prison after being convicted of an assault on a lady. When he came out he was free to play football again, which was his right, but we decided it could not be for us. We cancelled his contract and released him. We said: 'Good luck but you’ll have to play elsewhere’.

"I asked Malky about the racism thing, everyone in football knows I am totally against that, and he gave me some honest answers. I was impressed with him.”