Fulham to probe Healy actions

Cottagers ace makes swift apology

By James Pearson   Last updated: 21st July 2008

David Healy Fulham friendly v Celtic

Healy: Incident to be investigated

Fulham have confirmed they will look into David Healy's flute-playing gesture made against Celtic.

The former Leeds hit-man pretended to play a flute after coming on in the second half of The Cottagers' 3-1 win over the SPL champions on Saturday.

Healy's agent claimed the player's actions were a "good-natured" response to stick he was receiving from some of the 11,000 visiting fans at Craven Cottage.

However, Fulham and the Irish Football Association are looking into the incident further in order to eliminate any wrong-doing.

Investigation

A club spokesman said: "The team is in Korea for pre-season. The club is looking into the alleged incident."

IFA chief executive Howard Wells is waiting to speak to Fulham boss Roy Hodgson before deciding how to proceed.

"I put a call into David to speak to him," said Wells.

"I'll speak to Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, to see his take on it and I shan't be jumping to any conclusions."

Swift apology

Healy, to his credit, has issued to swift apology for Celtic supporters, stating it was a regrettable incident.

He told Ulster Television: "I am supposed to be a role model and I can only apologise, I can guarantee from my point of view it will never happen again."

"It was one of those regrettable incidents that somebody said something and I made a silly gesture which ultimately I regret."