Crawley Town facing further questions over treatment of former manager John Yems

Crawley Town are facing further questions over their treatment of John Yems after falsely claiming that the FA told them not to report allegations of racist behaviour by their former manager to the police. 

In a statement released last week Crawley claimed that their decision not to involve the police was based on ‘recommendations’ from the FA, who are still investigating the complaints made by his own players against Yems, but Sportsmail has established that this is not the case.

Yems left Crawley by mutual agreement last month after Sportsmail reported shocking claims of his alleged use of racist language at the club, which involved seven players making complaints to the PFA and triggered a formal investigation by the FA, which remains ongoing. 

Crawley are privately claiming that the FA have told them that the matter does not require police involvement as none of the alleged victims are under 18, a claim they alluded to in a statement released to Sky Sports last week.

‘At this time The FA has not made the club aware of any findings that would necessitate the filing of a police report, and we have acted in accordance with their recommendations,’ it read.

‘However, if The FA reports any such findings in the course of their continuing investigation, the club will of course follow their guidance and take the appropriate action.’

The FA are disputing this version of events, with sources insisting that no-one at Wembley has provided any advice to Crawley on how to handle the complaints against Yems. 

Crawley have made contact with the FA and were told that any alleged criminal behaviour could be reported to the police at any time, but that they were not obliged to do so, and it was a matter for the club and the individuals involved.

Yems remains unhappy with his treatment by Crawley despite agreeing to leave the League Two club in a negotiated settlement last month. 

The 62-year-old was asked to leave the team hotel in Mansfield in the middle of the night just hours after Sportsmail’s initial story about the players’ complaints was published on 23 April, with the club suspending him the following day in an extraordinary statement which described the allegations as ‘serious and credible.’

Yems is understood to feel that Crawley pre-judged the case and is confident of being cleared by the FA as he denies the allegations. The club stopped investigating Yems themselves after agreeing the terms of his departure on May 6.

Crawley declined to comment.