Back to overview

Black football pioneer blasts FA over “mindboggling” interim chairman appointment

test

PA Images | Peter McCormick was voted in as interim chairman at an emergency FA board meeting on Tuesday last week. Now one of English football’s pioneering black footballers has described the decision as “mind-boggling”.

Howard Gayle says that FA were “acting and not thinking” when making Peter McCormick the new acting chairman on Tuesday.

As a sports lawyer Peter McCormick oversaw Luis Suarez’s race case defence, in which Patrice Evra was falsely accused of “inventing” racist slur.

McCormick cleared of professional misconduct relating to notorious 2001 trial of Leeds United players.

Gayle says that preoccupation with black candidates is “dangerous” and questions why they are only ever considered as a reaction to race scandals.

16 November 2020 - 7:52 PM

By James Corbett, Senior Correspondent

Do you want to read this article?

Get smarter in minutes. Straight to your inbox
21-day free trial

No credit card required. No strings attached. Your access ends automatically, so there’s nothing to cancel.

Activate instantly with the link we’ll send you.