Former England goalkeeper David James has deleted a tweet sent about Eni Aluko shortly after Mark Sampson was sacked from his position as England women’s team manager last month.
The tweet, which appeared to suggest that Aluko was in some way to blame for Sampson’s dismissal, drew strong criticism from Stormzy on Wednesday afternoon, who branded James an ‘absolute dickhead’.
Shortly before Stormzy’s tweets on the matter, the FA’s chief executive Martin Glenn issued an apology to Aluko and Drew Spence on Wednesday after barrister Katharine Newton ruled Sampson had made comments to them which were deemed “discriminatory on the grounds of race”. Prior to this, Sampson had been cleared of wrongdoing in relation to making the discriminatory comments in a report by Newton and an internal inquiry conducted by the FA.
Despite what James’ tweet might have suggested, Sampson was actually sacked in relation to ‘inappropriate and unacceptable’ behaviour in a role before he was appointed to the position of England women’s team manager. His dismissal was entirely unrelated to the comments made to Aluko and Spence.
Having deleted the tweet about Aluko, James has yet to say any more on the matter.
