By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – Zoopla have followed up their threat to pull out of their £3m shirt sponsorship deal with English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion after the club refused to axe former French international Nicolas Anelka over his now-infamous inverted Nazi gesture. The FA have now charged the player with abusive and improper conduct.
New head coach Pepe Mel played Anelka last night against Everton, leading Zoopla, a property website owned by a Jewish businessman, to declare that its agreement, due to expire at the end of the season, will not be renewed.
In a statement, the property company said: “Zoopla has been reviewing its position over the past few weeks in light of the actions of striker Nicolas Anelka during the match against West Ham over the Christmas period.”
Mel said he had no issues when selecting Anelka. ”Nicolas is a very good player and a very good professional and I am only the head coach,” said Mel. “If he is suspended by the (English) FA, then he is not able to play, but here at the club we must think about winning football matches and he was available. My obligation is just to think about the football and the best interests of West Bromwich Albion.”
But those interests have now been scuppered. Within 12 hours of playing, Anelka was formally charged by the FA and faces a minimum five-match ban if found guilty.
In a statement, the FA said it had charged the 34-year-old with making a gesture that was “abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper”.
It added it was “an aggravated breach in that it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief”.
Anelka, who has until 6pm on Thursday to respond to the charge, fiercely denies that his use of the so-called ‘quennelle’ sign, brought to prominence by French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, was anti-semitic.
But the gesture, made during a game against West Ham on December 28, has prompted fierce reaction in both sporting and political circles. Dieudonné is a controversial figure in France because of his far-right views.
Anelka, who is friends with the comic, has pledged not to repeat the action, which shows the left hand held across the shoulder of the right arm pointing downwards. He said he simply made the gesture in support of Dieudonne, even though the French government has tried to ban the perfomer from making the sign at his shows.
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