Walsall centre back Manny Smith has issued a public apology, to one of the fans after a twitter row ended with the defender making a homophobic comment.
Walsall FC have said that the matter involving Smith and Walsall season ticket holder Kevin Paddock will be dealt with internally, although according the Express and Star, The FA are looking into the matter.
Manny Smith met face to face with lifelong fan Paddock and apologised for the incident, before releasing a statement on the clubs Official website in which Smith said: ‘I would like to publicly apologise to Kevin. The comments were borne out of frustration and were tweeted in the heat of the moment. I deeply regret them. I realise that, as a professional sports person, I am a role model and my conduct, both in person and via social networking sites, should reflect this’.
After the apology Kevin Paddock told VitalWalsall, when asked about his feelings towards Smith ‘ All sorted mate Its behind us now and together we can try and keep Walsall in League 1. Heat of moment from both of us’
Upon being asked if Paddock would be returning to the Banks’ this season he said ‘still a sore point with me mate and I’ll probably not return this season but apology goes a long way to ease how upset I was’
Contrary to some rumours Smith was left out of Saturdays clash with Wycombe purely for footballing reasons and it had nothing to do with the incident according to club officials.
Hopefully Manny will accept any punishment that may or may not come out of this, and hope there is never a repeat.
Onwards and Upwards!
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