Burnley striker Andre Gray faces ban over homophobic comments made on social media dating back to 2012http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3755391/Burnley-striker-Andre-Gray-faces-ban-homophobic-comments-social-media-dating-2012.html Burnley's Andre Gray is facing a ban after being slapped with an FA misconduct charge for homophobic social media comments.
Tweets emanating from the striker’s Twitter account, in which he called for gay people to ‘die’, were highlighted immediately after he scored a first Premier League goal on Saturday.
Gray also used the term ‘faggot’ in posts dating back to 2012 when he played for non-League Hinckley Town. They have now been deleted from his verified account.The fact he was not a Burnley player when the offence took place is not something the independent three-man commission will take into consideration - meaning he could miss crucial top-flight fixtures.Gray issued an apology over the weekend and stressed he was ‘at a very different point in my life back then’, while the Clarets point towards his community work.
‘Andre’s whole life has changed in four years, and off the pitch as much as on it, from what I gather,’ Burnley manager Sean Dyche said.
‘I can’t govern every inch of his life off the pitch, but I think that both parts have changed considerably. He understands that was then and this is now.’
Gray, 25, could also be handed a fine and mandatory one-day education course. On-field discrimination incurs a minimum five-match ban but there is no set sanctions for offences off the pitch.Coventry City’s Chris Stokes was given a one-match suspension and £1,000 fine in June for using the insult ‘faggots’ in a single tweet. Gray’s posts, however, were over the course of two months.
Former England captain Rio Ferdinand’s punishment for the use of ‘sket’ to describe somebody’s mother resulted in sitting out three matches in 2014.
Leicester’s Robert Huth, then with Stoke, was handed a two-match ban a year later for posting sexual images of people and asking followers to guess if they were male or female.
Gray’s tweets went undetected by Burnley and his two other Football League clubs, Luton Town and Brentford.
Dyche added: ‘I think it’s a tough one, because how far do you go with these things? They have a private life as well. You can’t govern every inch of someone’s life. I don’t think any employer does that.
‘All you can do is your general look at, first of all, their profession, because that’s what you’re signing a player for. In my case, it’s the professional aspect: what can they do to enhance the team and the club?
‘Then you do have a look at… not their lifestyle, but you do try to find information about what they’re like as a character. You are talking about fine combing.’
Gray - who could play against Accrington Stanley in the EFL Cup on Wednesday - has until 6pm next Wednesday to respond to the charge.
