28 November 2023 , 17:09
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AFC Wimbledon's former managing director Danny Macklin has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association.
Macklin left his his position in September after an alleged abusive rant about a female colleague was caught on a recording device. It's claimed he called Wimbledon's head of supporter services and ticketing Rebecca Markham a "s**t" and a "s**g".
The device was said to be planted in Macklin's office by a military veteran working as security officer at Wimbledon's Cherry Red Records Stadium in London, a ground more commonly known as Plough Lane. The veteran was concerned about abuse of staff.
Macklin is alleged to have said in a rant: "I f*****g want to put her through a f*****g window... I've never wanted to kill someone, but I'd like to kill her." Other abusive remarks were allegedly made. The FA has now taken action after reviewing the audio recording.
"Danny Macklin has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3 for misconduct while he was employed as the managing director of AFC Wimbledon," said a spokesperson for the FA. "It's alleged that Danny Macklin breached FA rule E3.1 by using abusive and/or insulting and/or threatening language in reference to a female member of AFC Wimbledon's staff.
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"It's further alleged that this constitutes an 'aggravated breach', which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as the language included a reference - whether express of implied - gender. Danny Macklin has until Wednesday 6 December 2023 to provide a response."
The recording of Macklin's alleged rant was leaked to The Times in September. It's claimed these remarks were made just two months after Macklin and Markham worked together to tackle sexism in football as part of the nationwide Her Game Too campaign.
Macklin, who previously worked for fellow football clubs Leyton Orient and Southend United, urged fans not to sing sexist songs. He told them: "The repeated use of chants that are not family friendly will prevent us from attracting new fans."
Mirror Football has contacted AFC Wimbledon for comment (Getty Images)Wimbledon thanked Macklin for his "hard work" on his exit before releasing a statement when the allegations emerged. It read: "The club is aware of a report today in the national press about AFC Wimbledon and we therefore issue the following statement in response. AFC Wimbledon strives to be a responsible, inclusive and modern fan-owned club.
"As such, it takes its obligation to act properly and set an example, as well as its duty of care towards employees and fans, extremely seriously. Behaviour such as that being alleged was and is not tolerated, nor is it representative of the culture at AFC Wimbledon.
"Once we became aware of the matter we acted appropriately in accordance with our responsibilities and values to promptly resolve it. For legal reasons we are not able to say more."
Mirror Football has contacted Wimbledon for comment in light of the statement from the FA's spokesperson.