FA MADE ME FEEL I WAS ON TRIAL SAYS RACE ABUSE VICTIM LEKO

JONATHAN LEKO would think twice about reporting racist abuse again after feeling that he was the one on trial.

The West Brom forward also criticised the FA, the PFA and anti-racism bodies over their handling of the Kiko Casilla case.

The Leeds keeper was given an eight-match ban on Friday for calling Leko a “f ****** n ***** ” during a Championship match on September 28.

Leko, 20, on loan at Charlton at the time, said: “By bringing the incident to the referee’s attention immediately, I was only doing what I have been educated to do throughout my career.

“But I found the hearing, at which I was made to feel I had done something wrong, extremely stressful. It made me question whether I would be prepared to go through it all again were I on the receiving end of similar abuse in the future.”

Casilla denied the charge and it took five months – when he was allowed to play – before an independent panel found the case proven and a ban imposed.

Leko added: “I am naturally relieved the process is now complete and the FA have upheld what I always knew to be true – that I was racially abused by Kiko Casilla in a manner which shocked and still angers me.

“I am disappointed with the amount of time it has taken. It has been difficult to watch Casilla continue to play as if nothing had happened.

“It was 22 weeks between the incident and the hearing during which I had minimal contact from the PFA and no support from leading anti-racism bodies such as Kick It Out and Show Racism The Red Card.”

The PFA said last night: “We’d like to apologise to Jonathan. We do not want any player to feel unsupported when going through something as difficult as this. We’re grateful for Jonathan’s feedback and will review our procedures.”