It is eight months since Jay Rodriguez’s world was turned upside down, on a bleak January afternoon when West Bromwich Albion were beating Brighton - their only Premier League victory under Alan Pardew.

During the second half, Rodriguez became involved in an altercation with Gaetan Bong, the Brighton defender. According to Rodriguez, he told the Cameroon international his “breath f---ing stinks”, pinching his nose with his fingers.

Bong had a different take, telling referee Martin Atkinson that Rodriguez told him “you’re black and you stink”, his incendiary claims escalating an apparently innocuous spat into a full-blown racism row.

After an arduous three-month investigation by the Football Association, which included lip-reading experts and Rodriguez paying up to £40,000 for a personal barrister, the charge was eventually found “not proven” in April.

For the West Brom forward, and indeed Bong, it represented an unsatisfactory conclusion to what remains a highly sensitive issue across sport. Rodriguez maintains he was innocent and is not asking for sympathy, yet he is clearly still frustrated after his ordeal.

“It was a difficult time, very difficult for myself and my family. I had to just keep myself focused on what I can affect, like I do with everything. The truth came out,” Rodriguez said, in his first major interview since the incident.