Wigan Chief Whelan In Fresh Anti-Semitism Row

Wigan owner Dave Whelan has been accused of anti-Semitism after defending the decision to appoint Malky Mackay as manager of the Championship club.

The decision to hire Mackay has caused controversy because the manager is being investigated by the FA for sending offensive text messages during his time as manager of Cardiff City.

One of the messages referred to Jewish football agent Phil Smith and appeared to imply that a Jew would be more perturbed at losing money than non-Jews.

But, in an interview with The Guardian, Whelan played down the significance of the text.

He said: “The Jews don't like losing money. Nobody likes losing money. Do you think Jewish people chase money a little bit more than we do? I think they are very shrewd people.

“I think Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else. I don't think that's offensive at all.”

The Jewish Leadership Council has condemned Whelan's views and called on him to withdraw his comments.

Simon Johnson of the Jewish Leadership Council said: “Unfortunately Mr Mackay and now Mr Whelan have referred to some of the worst old-fashioned tropes, which have been used in the past as the basis of anti-semitism and stereotyping of Jewish people.

“Mackay used offensive language to insult a fellow participant in football using a tawdry racial stereotype.”

And Johnson tweeted: “I call on Dave Whelan to withdraw and apologise for his use of disgraceful anti-Semitic language.”

Whelan has also defended Mackay's comments about Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan.

In another text message, Mackay used what is generally perceived as an offensive term to describe Tan, who is from Malaysia, but Whelan told The Guardian he does not think the term is offensive.

One of Wigan’s shirt sponsors, Premier Range, announced on Thursday that they were ending their relationship with the club in protest at the decision to hire Mackay before the conclusion of the FA probe.

Whelan has implied that he believes nothing will come of the investigation but FA chairman Greg Dyke said he was surprised by the comments.

Dyke said: “We have a separate judicial arm that does all that. I talked to them today and they say they are still doing the investigation.

“There are a lot of emails. They are going through, trawling through, and they will make some decisions.

“What I don’t understand is the chairman of Wigan, when he says he has talked to people at the FA who have said there is going to be no action.

“I don’t think that decision has been taken at all.

“Dave Whelan has obviously talked to somebody but I don’t think what he has said is right.”