The League Managers Association (LMA) has apologised for the wording of a statement issued in response to discriminatory text messages sent by former Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay.

But the Welsh club are not satisfied and have called for the resignation of the LMA’s chief executive Richard Bevan, accusing the organisation of attempting to conceal the messages.

The Scot was ruled out of the running for the vacant Crystal Palace manager’s job on Thursday after the Daily Mail published details of texts he sent while in charge at the Welsh club.

While Mackay, who left Cardiff under a cloud last year following a falling out with owner Vincent Tan, apologised via the LMA for the messages he called “disrespectful of other cultures”, the LMA said they were “friendly banter”.

However, after widespread criticism of its reaction, the LMA issued a new statement yesterday.

“The LMA apologises for some of its wording, in its release yesterday, which was inappropriate and has been perceived to trivialise matters of a racist, sexist or homophobic nature. That was certainly not our intention,” it said.

“It is beyond argument that any comments that are discriminatory, even used in private, are totally unacceptable.”

But Cardiff responded with a statement saying: “We find it entirely reprehensible that the LMA should itself put out a statement which seeks to dismiss deeply offensive racist comments as ‘friendly banter’.

“If that is the view held by the LMA, as appears from its statement this week, we consider that Richard Bevan’s position is untenable and we call for his resignation.”

Cardiff’s statement claimed that the LMA knew about the messages through their lawyers more than three months ago, adding: “The LMA were therefore complicit in the attempt to conceal these messages.

“The LMA is the representative voice of managers, and whilst we understand it seeks to act in the best interests of its members, one of its major aims is to encourage honourable practice, conduct and courtesy in all professional activity.

“Regrettably, we feel that the LMA has done no such thing in its representation of Mr Mackay and Mr Moody.”

The incident involving Mackay and former Cardiff sporting director Iain Moody, who resigned from a similar role at Crystal Palace on Thursday, has stirred up another storm over discrimination in British football.

High-profile cases of racist language involving the likes of veteran Chelsea skipper John Terry and former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, now at Barcelona, have blighted the game and the Mackay incident prompted leading anti-discriminatory organisation Kick It Out to say the game was “tainted” by racism and homophobia.

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