C. E. Lord OBE

In his column in today’s Daily Mail, Charlie Sale reveals not only the names of the other dramatis personae in the Scudamore email saga, but also exposes the text of a message the premier league chief executive sent to his club chairs last Saturday warning them of the forthcoming Sunday Mirror story.

In his note to clubs, Scudamore says of the Sunday Mirror’s story that it:

“‘had been obviously timed for our last day for it to cause maximum embarrassment to me and therefore the Premier League. The newspaper is asserting that some of the content is sexist and inappropriate. You will be the judge.”

This seeming refusal to accept that the content of his emails were in fact sexist and inappropriate to my mind completely undermines his public apology, and leads to only one conclusion: that it was insincere and therefore unsustainable in the court of public opinion.

If it is that Richard Scudamore didn’t believe that what he had written was wrong less than a week ago, I think that it is highly unlikely that he has come to that conclusion in any reality since. On that basis it appears to me that his position is now looking untenable.

If Scudamore doesn’t accept the heinous nature of his sexist remarks and the impact they have had, not only on women in the game, but on the perception they create of football’s commitment to equality and inclusion in general, then regrettably I must reach the conclusion that he may be in the wrong job.

Edward Lord is a member of the Football Association’s Inclusion Advisory Board and Chair of the London FA Inclusion Advisory Group, writing in a personal capacity.