Stevenage Football Chairman Phil Wallace has spoken out about the FA charges being aimed at manager Mark Sampson this week.

There’s been a suggestion that Sampson spoke in derogatory terms about signing a Nigerian defender over the summer whilst acting in another role at the club. He’s now the caretaker manager and has been the subject of allegations which the FA have chosen to pursue, despite the club’s own internal investigation proving fruitless.

Wallace issued the following statement regarding the FA charge.

“Mark denies these allegations that arose from statements made to the FA by our former goalkeeping coach and former manager and he has the full support of our players.

“In our internal investigation back in September, the Club found there was no case to answer and of course we welcome any full and proper investigation into the matter, but frankly I am surprised the FA chose not to use the five witness statements they took from people in the room at the time, in order to reach their decision as to whether or not a charge should be made against Mark.

“We will obviously respect whatever outcome the FA determine and will issue no further statement, response or comment until the matter is concluded.”

His comments suggest that the concerns have been raised in part by former manager Dino Maamria, now in charge of League Two rivals Oldham Athletic. Sampson has denied the allegations, something we covered in a special piece here.

Our View

Wallace has to defend his man because the club have already found him not guilty. It’s a delicate situation and the statement revealing who made the allegations might be something that gets him into trouble. I’m sure neither party, Maamria or the departed keeper coach, will have a significant issue with their roles being known, but that’s not the point.

I suppose Stevenage had to make a statement, but it’s not worded well from a neutral perspective at all. However, with Marcus Taverner QC on the board, it is unlikely to be in breach of any laws.