Man Utd sack football scout after Guardian investigation uncovers Islamophobic posts

Categories: Latest News
Thursday January 15 2015
The Guardian reports on the suspension of a football scout for Manchester United, Torben Aakjaer, following an investigation into anti-Muslim and racist Facebook posts found on his social media page.
The Guardian reveals that the offensive posts includes “a photograph of six pigs with a caption: “It’s time to deploy our secret weapons against Islamists.”
Other material found on Aakjaer’s page refers to “a reference about the story of a butcher who had been sent to prison for selling pig meat to Muslims for years – “So the wise one fools the less clever” – and a separate post in which he appears to mock that culture [Islam] again.”
In a post relating to a mosque, Aakjaer is alleged to have written “If just a single krone of public money is invested in this nonsense they better do as they are told. Or else you simply have to close down this conspiracy-potential prayer-shop.”
Another photograph on the page shows the “Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, falling over with the accompanying caption: “Phew, just thought that this crazy lady had converted into this Islam nonsense and was on her way down on her knees to mumble a prayer. But she clearly just fell drunk – fair enough.”
The Guardian relays that the football club said in a statement that it had “launched an immediate investigation into the matter and has terminated our association with Mr Aakjaer. Manchester United is an inclusive organisation and will not tolerate this sort of behaviour.”
The Guardian adds that Aakjaer did not dispute the comment about the mosque being a “conspiracy-potential prayer-shop” but denied “1,000%” that he was responsible for all of the comments found on the page. He also denied posting the photograph of the pigs or mocking Islam.
Football clubs taking a stronger stance against players, staff and supporters who violate guidelines on tackling racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in sport is a welcome development on the Professional Footballers’ Association’s six point plan which was launched in 2012. With the number of Muslim footballers entering the sport, the response of clubs and associations in eradicating prejudice and hostility on racial or religious grounds is good news.