West Ham fired director of recruitment Tony Henry on Friday night following an investigation into his comments about signing African footballers.
As revealed by Sportsmail this week, Henry sent at least one email stating West Ham did not want any more African players.
He followed that by explaining it was ‘nothing racist’ and said: ‘It’s just sometimes they can have a bad attitude. We find that when they are not in the team they cause mayhem.’
Tony Henry (left) alongside West Ham manager David Moyes at the start of the January window
HOW SPORTSMAIL LED THE WAY WITH THE TONY HENRY STORY
Thursday morning’s back page story
West Ham suspended Henry on Thursday and dismissed him on Friday.
In a statement, they said: ‘West Ham United have today terminated the contract of Director of Player Recruitment, Tony Henry, with immediate effect following his unacceptable comments that were widely reported in the press.
‘Our action follows a full and thorough investigation.
‘West Ham United will not tolerate any type of discrimination.
‘The West Ham United family is an inclusive one where, regardless of gender, age, ability, race, religion or sexual orientation, everybody feels welcome and included.’
Sportsmail’s exclusive story spread to the West Ham squad over the course of Thursday. Senegalese midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate posted on his Instagram account: ‘African and proud’.
The post was liked by Manuel Lanzini, Adrian, Pedro Obiang and Arthur Masuaku, all current West Ham players.
West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate posted on Instagram on Thursday: ‘African and proud’
Senegal international Kouyate has been playing for West Ham since June 2014
Henry responded to an inquiry about a footballer of Cameroonian descent with an email on January 27 to another senior West Ham official and an agent.
He wrote: ‘We don’t want any more Africans and he’s not good enough. I sent Thomas to watch him and the other lad last week and he said no. If Palace take them good luck.’
Sportsmail knows the identity of both recipients but a stipulation before being sent the email was that they should remain anonymous.
Henry initially told Sportsmail that there was no club policy regarding African players.
But when he was informed that we understood that he had told more than one agent in the last month that the club did not want any more players from the continent, he confirmed it was true.
And Henry also suggested management supported the policy. ‘Yeah,’ Henry replied. ‘Because we had three and we felt we didn’t particularly want any more African players.’
Asked why, Henry replied: ‘Erm, no reason. It’s nothing racist at all. It’s just sometimes they can have a bad attitude.
‘We had problems with Sakho, with Diafra Sakho. We find that when they are not in the team they cause mayhem. It’s nothing against the African race at all.
‘I mean, look, there are top African players. There’s not a problem with them. It’s just sometimes they cause a lot of problems when they are not playing, as we had with Diafra. He’s left, so great. It’s nothing personal at all.’
Asked if he thought his view was discriminatory towards African players, Henry asked: ‘In what way?’
Henry highlighted the example of Diafra Sakho, who left the club at the end of last month
Pedro Obiang played youth football for Spain but is able to represent Equatorial Guinea
Asked then if he thought his comments amounted to a slight on African players, he replied: ‘No. I don’t know what you are trying to get at here. All I said was, look, we have a great lad in Kouyate, he’s brilliant, a great player for us, he’s a good lad.
‘But the likes of Sakho have caused mayhem. When he’s not playing … he always wants a new deal. That’s all it was. It was nothing discriminatory at all.
‘I could say we get offered Russian players. I just find with Russian players that they don’t settle in England.
‘It’s like Italians. How many Italians come and settle in England? As a club we are not discriminatory at all.
‘If you’ve got too many, they all sit together and it becomes a situation where you can have problems. But then you can have problems with English players. I don’t know what you are driving at.’
The Hammers are said to be put off from buying Africans after selling Sakho (centre)
The FA have opened an investigation under rule F2 which covers their powers of inquiry.
Meanwhile, Lord Ouseley, chairperson of Kick It Out, described the email mentioned above as potentially unlawful.
Lord Ouseley was contacted before the conversation with Henry but in response to the 60-year-old former Manchester City player’s email, he said: ‘From my point of view, firstly, that is clearly unacceptable now in football. But secondly it’s unlawful to make a statement like that.
‘It’s clearly discriminatory but giving instruction to someone to discriminate against a person is unlawful.
‘Kick It Out would not expect this from any football club official and I would expect that club to take the necessary action.’
West Ham new boy Joao Mario elected to play for Portugal but is of Angolan descent
Angelo Ogbonna’s parents are Nigerian but he chose to represent the Italian national team
Left back Arthur Masuaku, pictured in training last week, has received call-ups by DR Congo
Edimilson Fernandes is a Switzerland international but is of Cape Verdean descent