New revelation piles the pressure on Sampson
FURTHER holes were exposed in the investigations into allegations of bullying, harassment and racism against England women’s manager Mark Sampson after it emerged that former England player Alex Scott was not interviewed.
The defender was part of the squad at the 2015 China Cup when Sampson is alleged to have made a racist comment to midfielder Drew Spence.
The Football Association were first made aware of the claims and allegations of bullying and harassment in an email from Eni Aluko in May 2016.
Despite conducting an internal and independent investigation, led by barrister Katharine Newton, that cleared Sampson of any wrongdoing, The Mail on Sunday first revealed last month that the governing body paid the Chelsea forward £80,000 hush money to keep quiet about her case.
Sampson has repeatedly denied all of the allegations but Spence has now submitted a written statement to the FA corroborating Aluko’s story and has held meetings with FA officials. Sampson is alleged to have asked how many times mixed-race Spence had been arrested during a midfielders’ meeting at the tournament.
Mixed-race Scott, 32, who recently retired from the national team, revealed yesterday that she was not even asked to be part of either investigation into Aluko’s claims — which included that Sampson once told her to make sure her Nigerian relatives did not bring ebola to a match — despite playing at the China Cup, where players have claimed Sampson’s racist comment to Spence was talk of the tournament.
‘I’ve never been asked any questions, or been asked to be part of an investigation,’ said Scott. ‘I suppose that’s where everyone’s calling for the investigation to be reopened because there has to be a fair investigation.’
Several other players who have worked under Sampson as part of his squad, including Lianne Sanderson, Anita Asante and Katie Chapman, have spoken out about poor treatment and a culture of dropping players who raise issues. The FA will reopen the investigation if Spence is willing to be interviewed by Newton, yet this has alarmed key figures across the game and concerns Aluko and Spence, who believe the barrister has already presided over one botched review.
The Professional Footballers’ Association and Kick It Out have called for a fresh investigation, while the FA have been called before a culture, media and sport select committee by chairman Damian Collins, where executives will face questions next month over their poor handling of the affair. Aluko and Sanderson will also give their perspective.
Sampson is due to appear tomorrow in his press conference ahead of England’s World Cup qualifier against Russia the following day, where he, too, will face further questions.
Speaking on Football Focus, Scott said: ‘It all goes down to the investigation, people feel there are a lot of unanswered questions, so people are trying to seek answers.’