Andre Gray has been charged with misconduct for a series of offensive tweets he sent back in 2012, the Football Association has confirmed.
After scoring against Liverpool during Burnley’s 2-0 win at the weekend, old tweets from the forward containing homophobic slurs and sentiments resurfaced.
The Burnley striker has until 6pm on Wednesday, August 31 to respond to the charges although it seems that he is unlikely to contest them, considering the fact he issued an apology and has since deleted the tweets.
It is unclear how long a suspension Gray may serve – if any – but the case of Chris Stokes may give us a clue.
Back in July, the Coventry defender received a one-game ban for using the word “faggots” in a tweet and was fined £1,000 after accepting the charge and apologising for his actions.
An FA statement about Gray’s case read:
‘Burnley’s Andre Gray has been charged with misconduct in respect of social media comments made between 9 January 2012 and 11 March 2012.
‘It is alleged the comments were abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute contrary to FA Rule E3(1).
‘It is further alleged that these breaches include reference to an “aggravating factor”, namely, sexual orientation and/or gender and/or colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3(2).
‘The player has until 6pm on Wednesday 31 August 2016 to respond to the charge.’
Gray’s apology read:
“Firstly, I want to offer a sincere and unreserved apology to anybody I may have offended in relation to these tweets.
“The tweets were posted four years ago when I was a completely different person to the man I am now. I was at a very different point in my life back then – one that I’ve worked hard to move on from.
“Thankfully a lot has changed in my life since then. I have experienced a lot over the past four years and have had to take responsibility for a number of things in my life which has enabled me to mature and grow as a person since that time.
“I have a lot of regrets regarding a number of things I’ve done in the past and realise I have made some mistakes, none more so than these tweets, but I would like to stress that I’ve worked incredibly hard to completely transform my life since that time.
“To clarify, I do not hold the beliefs written in those tweets whatsoever. I can assure everybody that I am absolutely not homophobic and as said previously I can only apologise and ask for forgiveness to anyone I offended.
“Thankfully I am not the guy I was back then and will continue to work hard both on and off the pitch to become a better person.”
