FA confirm Yems appeal after "fundamentally disagreeing" with ban for slurs
The Football Association have confirmed that they will appeal the decision to ban disgraced former Crawley Town manager John Yems for 18 months after he was found to have made a series of racist slurs.
Yems, 63, has been suspended from all footballing activity until June 2024 for making 11 separate discriminatory comments towards players while in charge of the League Two club.
But an independent panel ruled that Yems was "not a conscious racist" and referred to his insults - which included referring to black players as "Zulu warriors", an Asian player as “a curry muncher” and referring to "suicide vests" - as "banter" and an attempt at "jocularity."
The judgment was slammed by anti-discrimination campaigners and the FA initially said that they "fundamentally disagreed" with the findings and were exploring the potential of taking legal action.
Now, in a new statement, the governing body said: "We are appealing the sanction imposed by the Independent Panel on John Yems. We believe a longer sanction is appropriate. We are unable to comment further until the appeal is complete." Separately Yems said in a remarkable radio interview that he believes people should be saying sorry to him.
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“If anybody needs an apology, I think I do,” he told talksport. “The amount of abuse I've been getting. People haven't even had the courtesy to ask me. I don't think nobody has even looked at the case with any open-mindedness. If you're going in there, there should be a few apologies coming my way.”
The independent panel did not uphold four additional complaints against Yems and an accusation that he had segregated the dressing room at Crawley was not proven.
But he is refusing to show any remorse for the 11 charges he has been found guilty of, which also included putting an emphasis on the end of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name and repeatedly asking African players if they liked jerk chicken.
An independent panel ruled that Yems was "not a conscious racist" (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)Yems compared his punishment to getting kicked out of a pub before alleging the initial reports of his behaviour came after informing four young players they would not have their contracts renewed.
"It's very difficult to sit here,” he said. “I couldn't disagree with the panel's decision. It's not a court of law - that's the first thing people keep telling me. I haven't broken any laws. It's FA rules. It's like being thrown out of one pub and going into another.
"You've made mistakes under the FA rules, take the punishment or appeal. But in the end of it the panel in its wisdom decided to say I was not racist, didn't use racist language without intent and I was honest throughout my trial.”
Asked if he will say sorry to those offended by his remarks, he said “no” before criticising how the complaints had been handled by the media and Football Association. He also said that no one had informed him that such comments were offensive and that someone from the FA should have let him know that was the case.
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