David James says FA has not helped racism in football row

Former England goalkeeper David James, who has been training with Exeter City, says the row over racism in football has not been helped by the FA's slowness to respond to the John Terry case.

The debate was intensified over the weekend when Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was among a number of players who did not wear a campaign T-shirt in the warm-up against Stoke.

However, Professional Footballers' Association chairman Clarke Carlisle has defended the protest against the Kick It Out anti-racism campaign.

In a national newspaper column at the weekend David James said:

"So why is there this intense focus on racism in the game right now? I believe English football is suffering as a direct result of the amount of time it took the FA to deal with the John Terry case. There is a tendency to have a go at the FA for everything, but I do think that in this case the criticism is justified.

"The FA should have been swifter, and braver, in its response."

For the full column see The Observer website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/21/david-james-racism-i...