Thursday 1 January 2015 07:47, UK
Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has been banned from football-related activities for six weeks over comments he made about Jewish and Chinese people.
The 78-year-old accepted an aggravated misconduct charge and he has also been fined £50,000, warned about his future conduct and ordered to undertake a mandatory education programme.
Whelan now has seven days in which to appeal or accept the suspension.
The ban would be suspended until after the outcome of any appeal or would take immediate effect if Whelan decides to accept the punishment.
The Wigan chairman made the remarks in defence of his decision to appoint Malky Mackay as Latics boss, despite the Scotsman being the subject of an investigation into alleged racist and anti-Semitic texts sent while he was in charge of Cardiff.
Wigan issued a statement in response to the sanction, saying that according to the full findings of the case - which have yet to be made public by the FA - the commission was satisfied that Whelan "is not a racist".
"Wigan Athletic can confirm the findings of an independent regulatory commission following statements made by chairman Dave Whelan in the Guardian newspaper on November 20," read a statement on the club's official website.
"In summary, the FA commission concluded that: 'We are satisfied on the evidence before us that Mr Whelan is not a racist. We are equally satisfied on the evidence before us that Mr Whelan did not intend to cause any offence by his
comments.
"It is clear that he himself is very upset by the words he used and he moved very quickly to apologise publicly, plead guilty and begin to make amends'."
