British Soccer Owner Sorry for ‘Jews Chase Money’ Jibe
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The owner of a British soccer club apologized for saying in an interview that Jews were inclined to chase money and for defending a racial slur against Asians.
Dave Whelan, who owns the Wigan Athletic Football Club near Manchester, made the statements in an interview published on Thursday in The Guardian daily and apologized for making them on Friday in an interview with the BBC.
Whelan told The Guardian that “Jewish people chase money more than everybody else.” He was defending his decision Wednesday to name Malky Mackay as the club’s manager despite a British Football Association inquiry into Mackay for alleged racism in recent email and text exchanges.
The three texts or emails Mackay had sent, Whelan said, included one describing the Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan as a “chink.” In another, Mackay referred to the Jewish soccer agent, Phil Smith, saying: “Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers.”
Whelan said Mackay’s slur against Tan “was nothing.”
But following protests by anti-racism groups, Whelan told BBC: “If I have upset one person, I apologize.”
Kick It Out, a platform against racism in soccer, said Whelan “has brought into question whether he is a fit and proper person who should be running” a professional soccer club.
The remarks, the Kick It Out platform wrote in a statement, “act as another example of the culture which continues to exist within football, and further proves that some in positions of power seem comfortable sharing those views either privately or publicly. These comments must not go unchallenged and have to be investigated by the Football Association.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
