Leeds United finally received the official line from the Football Association on Kiko Casilla’s eight-game ban for racially abusing Jonathan Leko and The Athletic’s Phil Hay as revealed some finer details.
What’s he said?
On the eve of the weekend, it was announced that the 33-year-old goalkeeper was found guilty of breaching FA Rule E3(2) and has also received a £60k fine.
But the FA didn’t release written confirmation until Tuesday, which can be read in full here.
Casilla missed their thrashing of Hull City on Saturday and will now miss 70% of their remaining Championship fixures.
Hay revealed further information in his latest column for The Athletic, where he said:
“The Athletic understands that he was asked whether he had seen certain Tarantino films and or listened to popular music artists, both of which would have exposed him to the term. Casilla claimed that the first time he had come across it was when he was interviewed by FA officials on October 24 last year, almost a month after the game at Charlton. The commission dismissed that comment as “far fetched”.
Should he be sacked?
Leeds made their stance clear from the start – that they would back the Spaniard to the wall, so much so that they called upon a range of testimonies from his teammates, including Eddie Nketiah, to Rafa Benitez, Real Madrid and even an unnamed former Cameroon international.
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As this was only an allegation at the time, the club were right to support their player. However, now that he has been found guilty of such a serious offence – one that should have no place in football whatsoever – it’s time to do a U-turn and cut all ties with Casilla.
It’s not just a horrible look to have, but it also almost accepts that it was an alright thing to do, when it really wasn’t.
Those looking in from the outside will see that the club are continuing to back a racist because that’s exactly what he’s been charged with by the FA.
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Illan Meslier deputised well in his absence and they’ve also got Kamil Miazek, Elia Caprile and Will Huffer on the books – albeit younger options but there’s plenty of depth in the position.
And in other news, ex-Leeds ace provides insight into Kalvin Phillips future…