Grovelling Glenn says sorry for his Star of David slur
GAFFE-PRONE FA chief executive Martin Glenn was forced into making a full apology for his crass remarks in attacking Pep Guardiola’s yellow-ribbon support for imprisoned Catalan separatists. Glenn had infuriated the Jewish community in particular for mentioning the Star of David in the same breath as the Nazis’ swastika symbol when clumsily trying to explain why the FA had charged Guardiola for his political protest. Glenn had said: ‘Things like a poppy are OK but things that are going to be highly divisive are not. 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.’ Manchester City informed the FA last night that Guardiola had accepted the charge and would no longer wear the symbol for Catalan independence when it breaches FA rules. But he will continue to do so before and after matches and during Champions League games when the UEFA regulations allow him to do. However, Guardiola’s partial climb-down did nothing to deflect from Glenn’s gaffe, which the Holocaust Educational Trust’s chief executive Karen Pollock described as ‘astounding and highly offensive’. She added: ‘It shows a huge lack of understanding around the difference between the Star of David — a religious symbol — and the swastika used by the Nazis.’ Former senior FA executive Simon Johnson, now chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: ‘I have no problem with the FA specifying that all religious symbols are prohibited on a kit. But in explaining that decision, the CEO of the FA’s examples are ill-judged and in poor taste. ‘The Star of David is a Jewish religious symbol of immense importance. To put it in the same bracket as the swastika and Robert Mugabe is offensive and inappropriate. ‘We will raise formally with the FA the Jewish community’s deep disappointment with his comments.’ Glenn responded: ‘I would like to apologise for any offence caused by the example I gave when referring to political and religious symbols in football, specifically in reference to the Star of David, which is a hugely important symbol to Jewish people all over the world.