Former Cardiff City Boss Malky Mackay Apologises for 'Friendly Text Message Banter'

Malky Mackay has denied sending homophobic or sexist text messages during his tenure as Cardiff City manager, the League Managers' Association (LMA) have said in a statement.

The FA confirmed on Thursday they have opened an investigation into allegations made by the Welsh club of a series of racist, sexist and homophobic messages shared between Mackay and his former recruitment chief Iain Moody.

Mackay has apologised for the alleged messages that were "disrespectful of other cultures" but the LMA have risked considerable backlash by defending them as "friendly text message banter."

The statement read: "In the course of a search by the Club in early 2014 of 10,000 private text messages sent to and from another member of staff during Mr Mackay's employment at Cardiff, in relation to other matters, it emerged that Malky had, it seems, sent a couple of one line texts that were, with the benefit of hindsight, very regrettable and disrespectful of other cultures.

"These were two text messages sent in private at a time Malky felt under great pressure and when he was letting off steam to a friend during some friendly text message banter.

"That said, Malky believes he could and should have conducted himself better on these two isolated occasions. The precise details need to remain private for the time being until any FA process is complete.

"The LMA does not condone in any way any potential breach of equal opportunities laws but would also point out that out of over 10,000 text messages and 70,000 documents produced over a long period of time it may not be a complete surprise that some inappropriate comments can sometimes be made by employees, like Malky, working under great pressure in highly charged situations.

If Malky has caused any offence by these two isolated matters he would, however, wish to sincerely apologise."

In light of the alleged misconduct originally reported by the Daily Mail, Mackay has seen his hopes of succeeding Tony Pulis as Crystal Palace manager dashed. Moody meanwhile, who moved to Selhurst Park after being sacked by Cardiff last October, resigned from his post on Thursday.

The statement added Mackay is "very concerned about seriously inaccurate and misleading reports" of his involvement.

"It has never been alleged that he wrote any homophobic or sexist messages and he has confirmed he did not do so," said the statement.

"Further, there are incorrect and damaging suggestions that he sent a whole host of offensive and unpleasant messages that are simply not true and which give a grossly distorted and unfair view of Malky's involvement in this matter."

Mackay insists he will cooperate fully with an FA investigation.