Trevor Sinclair: West Ham changing room will be awkward place after historic Bowen tweet emerges
Trevor Sinclair feels the West Ham changing room will be an awkward place after the surfacing of a tweet from Jarrod Bowen in 2012.
The Hammers winger used a racial term in a social media post nine years ago. He was 15 years of age at the time and on the books of Hereford Town.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Friday [11:00 am], Sinclair said this could cause unrest in the Hammers dressing room and called on the FA to act accordingly.
“I feel for Jarrod Bowen because he was a kid and I’m sure he’ll be embarrassed by it, and that will be an awkward changing room when he has to face his team-mates who are black,” said Sinclair.
“It would be very dangerous to let him off with a slapped wrist after disciplining two other players for similar things. I think there’s got to be consistency from the FA and the authorities and I think that will be executed.
“I think if you accept responsibility for your errors and then move on and try to be a positive influence, that’s the best you can do and if that’s the case, we should forgive him.”
Over to the FA
Both Bowen and West Ham have released statements today. As quoted by The Independent, the 24-year-old said, “This is not an example I wish to set and it certainly does not portray the values and principles I hold.”
Bowen will likely face disciplinary action from the FA as a result of this tweet resurfacing. The FA confirmed that they’re aware of the post and are investigating. We saw a similar outcome for another footballer previously.
In 2016, Watford striker Andre Gray was handed a four-match-ban and a £25,000 fine for homophobic tweets. Like Bowen, he had made the posts in 2012 and received his punishment four years later whilst playing for Burnley.
He was found guilty of six aggravated breaches of FA rules. It’s likely that Bowen would suffer a similar punishment, there is no room for racism in football.
There has been no indication yet of the severity of the punishment from the FA. Seeing as they are investigating, repercussions should be forthcoming.
He could be set to miss matches with Wolves, Leicester and Newcastle in the coming weeks as we hope to push on for Europe.
In other West Ham news, Andy Goldstein says Declan Rice will end up at this Premier League club.