FA’s Glenn in swastika tirade over Pep’s ribbon

FA chief executive Martin Glenn has launched an extraordinary attack on Pep Guardiola for wearing his yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned Catalans. Glenn even went as far as mentioning abhorrent political symbols such as the swastika or an ISIS badge in the same conversation when discussing Guardiola’s support for Catalan independence. He also said that many more Spaniards are ‘p ***** off’ by Guardiola’s stance. The Manchester City manager has been charged by the FA for ‘wearing a political message’ and City have until today to reply to the FA. Guardiola has continued sporting the ribbon since the FA sanction was announced, including before and after yesterday’s Premier League game against Chelsea. Glenn, speaking in a media conference call from Zurich after the rule-making International Football Association Board meeting, said: ‘You can’t have — and we don’t want — football equipment to display political symbols. That has always been the case. ‘The problem we had with poppies is that for some reason a new person at FIFA seemed to think poppies were a political symbol and we fought hard against that notion and thankfully sense broke out. ‘We have rewritten law 4 of the game so that things like a poppy are OK but things that are going to be highly divisive are not. ‘And that could be strong religious symbols, it could be the Star of David, it could be the hammer and sickle, it could be a swastika, anything like Robert Mugabe on your shirt, these are the things we don’t want. ‘And to be honest and to be very clear, Pep Guardiola’s yellow ribbon is a political stance, it’s a symbol of Catalan independence and I can tell you there are many more Spaniards, non-Catalans, who are p ***** off by it.’ Glenn added that his hardline stance on the yellow ribbon was shared by his colleagues from the home nations and FIFA who sit on IFAB. He said: ‘All we are doing is even-handedly applying the laws of the game. Poppies are not political symbols, that yellow ribbon is. ‘Where do you draw the line — should we have someone with a UKIP badge, someone with an ISIS badge? ‘That’s why you have to be pretty tough that local, regional, national party organisations cannot use football shirts to represent them.’ Guardiola, despite carrying on wearing the ribbon at recent matches in defiance of the FA, has said that he would cease to do so if it started to affect the performances of his team — who are on course for the treble after winning the Carabao Cup, running away with the Premier League and heading for the Champions League quarter-finals. Guardiola said: ‘It is more important what is happening with the team and the club than my personal opinion.’