Ex-Norwich chief Stuart Webber will ESCAPE disciplinary action from FA over comments that Raheem Sterling and four other black players ‘would be in jail if it didn’t work out in football’

Former Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber will escape FA disciplinary action for suggesting Raheem Sterling, Max Aarons and three other black players would be in jail if they were not football because he is not currently in work. 

Sources with knowledge of the FA’s disciplinary system have told Mail Sport that Webber’s racial stereotyping would almost certainly have led to him being charged with breaching Rule E3 had he been an active participant in the game, but that they are powerless to act given as the Welshman left Norwich last November.

The FA are understood to be frustrated by their limited powers to take action against Webber despite the fact that he has spent 21 years working in senior recruitment and scouting roles at six different clubs before leaving Carrow Road. 

The governing body would also be unable to take retrospective action should Webber return to work in the professional game, although that appears an unlikely scenario in the short-term at least given the reputational damage incurred by his extraordinary comments.

Kick It Out condemned Webber’s comments as ‘deeply offensive and concerning,’ which he has acknowledged by contacting several of the players and their families to offer apologies. 

Webber claimed Raheem Sterling and four other black players could have ended up in prison if not for football

The players, which also included Jamal Lewis (left – no 6) and Abu Kamara (right – no 25), were reported to be left upset, shocked and furious by Webber’s comments with local outlet PinkUn

The 39-year-old is understood to have contacted to Bournemouth’s Max Aarons and Jamal Lewis, who is on loan at Watford from Newcastle, although it is unclear whether he has managed to speak to Sterling, Abu Kamara and Jonathan Rowe, who he also named.

‘To read such callous language being used by someone who until recently was a senior executive at the top of the English game paints a very damning picture,’ said Kick It Out. 

‘Resorting to lazy stereotyping is clearly upsetting for those who have been targeted, but also shows a complete lack of respect for their families, who have played a huge part in the journeys that the players have been on.’

‘Jonny Rowe wouldn’t mind me saying it, but him, Abu Kamara, Max (Aarons), Jamal (Lewis), Raheem (Sterling) back in the day at Liverpool, where they come from it had to work out for them in football – because the alternative is potentially jail or something else,’ Webber had said in an interview with the Eastern Daily Press to promote a charity trek up Mount Everest.

Webber is believed to have contacted the player and their families to apologise.