Ex-West Ham chief banned for 1 Year over comments on Andre Ayew and African players

Former West Ham United head of recruitment Tony Henry has been banned from all football activity for a period of 12 months over comments he made about Andre Ayew and other African players earlier this year.

Henry was sacked by West Ham after his comments, written in an email to an agent, suggested that the club would no longer try to sign African players because they 'have a bad attitude' and 'cause mayhem' when out of the team.

Ayew was part of the eight African players with the Hammers when the recruitment boss made the comments which is now punished by the governing body.

West Ham have six first-team squad members of African descent with Cheikhou Kouyate, Pedro Obiang, Joao Mario, Angelo Ogbonna, Arthur Masuaku and Edimilson Fernandes.

Senegal striker Diafra Sakho left the club in the January transfer window to join Rennes, with Ghana international Andre Ayew heading to Swansea.

Following an investigation in early February, the Hammers felt that Henry's comments were 'unacceptable' and dismissed the former Manchester City player with immediate effect.
As part of the sanctions against him, the 60-year-old must now attend a FA education course.

Henry publicly apologised for his behaviour in May following a formal FA charge.

"I was wrong for what I said. I'm not trying to get out of this. I've been charged by the FA. This is not me saying 'what I said was right'. It was wrong, and I totally apologise," he told SkySports

"I just want to say that I'm sorry. I want to apologise most to the African players, the players of African descent, but also everybody because I feel I've let them down.
"It was never, ever meant to be racist in any way. The reason we said we didn't want any more Africans was because we already had three. The day before we'd had four, but one of them left.