Newell blasts women officials as ‘tokenism’

THE FA have confirmed that they will be looking into remarks made by Luton boss Mike Newell attacking the appointment of female officials for matches.

Newell could face a disrepute charge after claiming that the appointment of female officials was “political correctness”.

Newell reacted angrily to decisions made by assistant referee Amy Rayner during Luton’s 3-2 home defeat by QPR. He said: “She (Rayner) should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.

“We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom.

“It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.

“This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots.”

An FA spokesman yesterday said: “All we can say at the moment is that we will be investigating when we have discovered what was said.”

Meanwhile, the prospect of David Beckham moving to the US to play in Major League Soccer has become more likely following the introduction of a ‘designated player’ rule.

The MLS board of governors have approved the rule change, which will allow clubs to sign marquee players without breaking the competition’s salary cap, which is currently set at £1million (€1.48m).

The MLS will now pay up to £209,216 (€311,000) towards the salary of the designated player with any additional cost becoming the financial responsibility of the club.

Each team will receive one designated player slot.

The rule change will increase speculation that Beckham will leave Madrid to join the American league.

Recent reports have linked the former Manchester United star with the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls, with Galaxy president Alexi Lalas stating last week that they are interested in signing him if he is available.