The Football Association has confirmed it is investigating the comments made by Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan, regarding Jewish and Chinese people.
The governing body has confirmed Whelan has three working days to respond to the investigation.
"The FA is very concerned to read about the comments that have been attributed to Dave Whelan,” a statement from the FA said.
“We take all forms of discrimination seriously. As with all such cases, this will be dealt with as a priority. The investigation is already under way and The FA's Governance Division have written to Mr Whelan. He has three working days to respond."
Whelan is under investigation following remarks in an interview with The Guardian where he called Chinese people “chinks” and said Jewish people “chase money.”
The controversy is compounded by Whelan having recently hired former Cardiff boss Malkay McKay, who is currently under investigation for allegedly racist, sexist and homophobic text messages and emails he sent while Cardiff City boss.
Cardiff City chairman Vincent Tan has said Whelan hiring Mackay at Wigan is “a racist chairman hiring a racist manager.”
“I hope that stops at two racists in Wigan, not snowballing to 2,000 or 20,000 racists in Wigan. I think he insulted the dignity of all Jewish people. I think he insulted the dignity of Chinese,” Tan told BBC Sport.
Whelan has attempted to explain his remarks, speaking to the BBC:
On saying Jewish people ‘chase money’, Whelan said:
“I wasn't being offensive to any Jewish… I have got thousands of Jewish friends, I would never want to offend one of my Jewish pals … all I was trying to say was that Jewish people are very similar to the English people in the desire to work hard and get money. I didn't think that I did anything wrong in that,” he said.
“If it is causing offence to anybody please accept my apology because I did not say that and I did not mean to insult any of my Jewish friends or any of the Jewish people. I have no hang-ups about people, I just get on with every single person.
On calling a Chinese person a ‘chink’, Whelan said:
“There are all kinds of names given to people, given to the English, to the Scottish, to the Welsh, to the Irish, to the Chinese and there are all kinds of words given and used.
"I accept that (it is offensive) totally, I would never call a Chinaman a chink personally, I don't use that kind of language, but other people do and you do hear it used. Everybody will say that, that they have heard that word used. It's not a word I would use anywhere in the world."
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