Manchester United have sacked one of their European scouts after what The Guardian describes as a Facebook "race storm". Danish talent spotter Torben Aakjaer had his contract terminated just hours after the club was alerted to a string of racially offensive comments posted on the social networking site.
The Guardian claims the messages sparked panic within Old Trafford and after a "hastily convened investigation" the 32-year-old Aakjaer was sacked. Aakjaer, who had been employed by United since 2011, is based in Copenhagen but he is a frequent visitor to Old Trafford in between scouting top young talent in Europe.
Aakjaer's Instagram page is harmless enough, featuring several pictures of the Dane including a selfie with United winger Nani and copy of a letter from Alex Ferguson sent to Aakjaer on his wedding day. But it's the comments posted on Aakjaer's Facebook page that reddened the faces of United's officials.
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According to the Guardian, which broke the story, in one message a mosque was described as a "conspiracy-potential prayer-shop", while a photograph of six pigs was captioned: "It's time to deploy our secret weapons against Islamists."
Islam isn't the only target in the Facebook rant. The Guardian says there were offensive references to eastern Europeans and support for the right-wing Dansk Folkeparti's views about border control with one comment demanding "extra personnel on every crossover and exit so all that eastern Europe dirt and sh.. can be kept out".
The recent Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris were also referenced with someone commentating on his Facebook page that the French should "throw the rest of all that s*** they have in their country out". Aakjaer responded by writing: "Couldn't agree more. Let's hope other countries including our beloved Denmark follows that example efficiently."
When confronted by the Guardian, Aakjaer denied "1,000 per cent" that he was responsible for all of the comments, claiming many had been "taken out of context". He added: "I do believe we should close the borders, as many Danish people do, but I would never use this aggressive language. I would never write ‘dirt and s***'. I've never written anything racist and it doesn't sound like me. I am not racist at all."
The offending posts were all removed within minutes of the Guardian contacting Aakjaer, and once United were alerted an internal inquiry was launched by chief executive, Ed Woodward. The outcome was the termination of Aakjaer's contract and a statement released by the club in which it explained its decision and concluded: "Manchester United is an inclusive organisation and will not tolerate this sort of behaviour."
