When former Coventry City manager Ron Atkinson made a racist comment about the then Chelsea defender Marcel Dessailly while on air he was promptly sacked by ITV as a football pundit, but one of his former players Cyrille Regis claims Atkinson is in no way a racist.
Regis played for Coventry City in the 1980's and was part of the Fa cup winning team of 1987, but had left the club before Atkinson took over as manager, but Regis played under Atkinson at Aston Villa and the two men are still great friends.
Regis told Sky Sports: "I've known Ron for nearly thirty years and I've never heard him use that word."
"He's still a very good friend of mine and I think he's at pains to analyse why it was that he said that. But I've seen him work with black players and I know what he's like. I said in my book that his relationship with Dalian Atkinson was like a father and son relationship.
"He'd be at pains to explain why he said that and he's paid a very heavy price. But, for me, it's about forgiveness and he has said sorry. He's a good friend of mine and I don't think he's a racist."