Suspended Crawley Town manager John Yems has denied allegations as he is investigated by the Football Association for allegedly using terms such as “suicide bomber”, “terrorist” and “Zulu Warrior” and segregating the club’s black and white players.
The 62-year-old was suspended by the League Two club on April 23 for what new owners WAGMI United said were "serious and credible accusations.”
According to a new report in the Daily Mail, those allegations include having two dressing rooms at the training ground and using a host of racial slurs including the n-word.
“We are aware of allegations made against Crawley Town Manager John Yems," an FA spokesman said when contacted by Mirror Football. "We are treating the allegations extremely seriously and are currently conducting an investigation into them. We cannot comment further until that has concluded.”
A spokesman for Crawley Town has not responded to a request for comment.
An unnamed Crawley player told the Mail: “He called us terrorists, suicide bombers, curry munchers. He also called one of the players a Zulu warrior. It’s been going on since 2020-21 — in the changing room, during training.
“No one challenged him on it as he’s the gaffer and we didn’t feel we could. Sometimes players say things in the heat of the moment but from the manager it’s different. He’s the boss, so it’s an abuse of his power.
“I’ve been in a dark place and really struggled. Two players were effectively kicked out of the club last year for no reason. They were made to train on their own and haven’t been seen since. One of the lads said Yems was screaming in their faces, ‘F*** off you c***s, get out of our club.’”
Several members of the squad are understood to have made complaints to the PFA and at least one has received counselling.
The two key figures behind WAGMI, Preston Johnson and Eben Smith, are planning to address a fans' forum in Crawley tonight and may offer further details around the situation.
