Mackay New Wigan boss

[Gaffer]

Really, all things considered, Wigan have made themselves look a bit daft over this, and should have waited until the investigation was completed.

I think their conduct is admirable, sticking two fingers up to the media and giving the man a fair chance. They've also got a manager more likely to succeed than ours.

 

[Andy]

I don't think that is immediately clear actually, the FA have remained silent on the issue. Even if there are other allegations being investigated, I don't think that they should necessarily prejudice his employment prospects, presumption of innocence until proven guilty?

I was referring to:

“The FA is still investigating whether these messages indicate a culture in which other acts of a discriminatory nature may have taken place"

The presumption of innocence until proven guilty doesn't apply because, as far as I understand it, Malky has accepted that he made racist comments and has apologised for doing so

The message Wigan appear to be giving is that "we will say that we adopt a zero tolerance policy to discrimination to make us look good but we won't actually implement it because we don't think that casual racist terms are that bad and it suits us to ignore them when we like"

This won't end well as sponsors move to distance themselves as the sh*tstorm develops.

As I've said before, I don't like the term "zero tolerance" because it infers that even minor offences are dealt with in the same way as serious ones. However, its Wigan's own policy and they should follow it.

 

[Canaryboy]

As I've said before, I don't like the term "zero tolerance" because it infers that even minor offences are dealt with in the same way as serious ones. However, its Wigan's own policy and they should follow it.

Usually when a business has a policy it is a guideline for the conduct of its employees whilst under their employment. I'm sure that The Guardian newspaper would have zero tolerance should one of their employees commit a murder, but that hasn't stopped them from employing a convicted murderer. 

A pointless discussion now though, because Dave Whelan has completely undermined his own club with the remarks that he has made in public about the Jewish and the word "chinks".  The debate is now centered around Dave Whelan's unacceptable remarks, rather than Malky's, and I'm wondering whether Whelan has become a bit senile or just plain stupid. 

I'd have expected him to have gone along the lines of people needing a second chance in life and that they should be given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and make amends, which I'd have fully supported, now I just have the impression that Whelan has appointed Malky because he doesn't see that he has done anything wrong. 

I wonder whether Malky himself is now regretting the decision to take the job, which rather than giving him a  clean slate may have further damaged his reputation and career prospects. Malky may have been better served waiting for the FA investigation to conclude before applying for jobs, and perhaps should have avoided another club which revolves around the ego (and big mouth) of the owner. 

 

[Canaryboy]

I think their conduct is admirable, sticking two fingers up to the media and giving the man a fair chance. They've also got a manager more likely to succeed than ours.

Sheffield United have just demonstrated how adopting a siege mentality and sticking your fingers up to media pressure doesn't work when you are in a business which relies on the goodwill and generosity of sponsors and commercial partners who are rightly concerned about the negative impact on their own brand. Wigan have already lost their shirt sponsor over this.

 

[GazzaTCC]

See, I'd fully agree with what you said Morty if Malky's texts were intended to cause offence to any individual, or intended to be seen by anybody other than the recipient.

If he'd sent those texts to a group of people, one of whom then complained and made them public, or even sent them to the subject of the text (e.g. sent a text to Phil Smith calling him a greedy Jew or whatever it was), then I'd probably be saying that he shouldn't be working in football right now and deserves everything that he gets. In fact, if either of those scenarios had of happened he'd probably have been charged by police.

But I do find it inappropriate that Tan could get a court warrant relating to a serious allegation of financial irregularity, and subsequently pass on the details of two completely unrelated private text messages to a newspaper for public consumption. I have to wonder why that isn't consider an abuse of process, if that isn't frowned upon then surely that sets a dangerous precedent. There has been no evidence found, to my knowledge, which does implicate Malky in financial wrongdoing.

Surprised this isn't a breach of the terms of the warrant, or even the data protection act. It sets a dangerous precedent. It basically shows newspapers that they have the ability and right to instruct private investigators to obtain warrants against people on the strength of unfounded allegations, and then have access to all of their private communications with a license to publish them? Is that any different to phone hacking? Sounds very similar to phone hacking from where I'm sitting.

That doesn't excuse the texts, but it does raise the question of whether the public should ever have been privvy to them. I'm not sure that we should have been.

Isn't the issue here that the text messages were sent via work phones are the property of the club? This is why Tan has be able to investigate the matter as he has?

 

[eatonparkboy]

To be honest, I don't think I am really bothered about Wigan or Mackay. Obviously some will see him as racist, homophobic, anti semitic etc. Others will see it as none other than disposable remarks that haven't done anything worse than cause offence.

In his capacity as Wigan manager, he could nick points off us which would upset me but as a half Jew with an Asian step father in law and gay friends, his remarks are only distressing to me if he was inciting other people to feel the same way.