Sunday 24 August 2014 11:41, UK
Former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman thinks Malky Mackay should be banned from football for a season.
Mackay, formerly the manager of Cardiff City, has apologised for three offensive text messages he sent to the club’s ex-head of recruitment Iain Moody.
Mackay has admitted that those messages were "unacceptable" and "inappropriate", and the FA is now investigating a dossier of texts between Moody and Mackay, which have been sent to them by Cardiff.
However, there is some question over whether the FA will be able to punish either Mackay or Moody, as the texts could be considered private correspondence.
But Triesman, who was FA chairman between 2008 and 2010, thinks the organisation is entitled to take action.
He told the BBC: “There could very well be a significant period in which he (Mackay) can take no part in football.
"If it turns out to be three texts then maybe a season, if it's more than that, it may be much more.
"Assuming that the evidence is stacked up - I can't pre-try it – I think the FA, in the same sense that it can say to players 'here is a period in which you can take no part in playing', could do so with other people in football."
However, the FA took no action in May when Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore was found to have sent emails of a sexist nature.
Current FA chairman Greg Dyke said at the time: "The FA does not, as a matter of policy, consider private communications sent with a legitimate expectation of privacy to amount to professional misconduct.
"The FA has applied this policy on an ongoing basis and in relation to numerous other cases."
