Crystal Palace's Wayne Hennessey was urged to address his "lamentable" ignorance by the Football Association after he was cleared of making a Nazi salute because he had not heard of Adolf Hitler.

The goalkeeper, 32, captured on camera holding his right arm outstretched with his left hand under his nose, told investigators he had no knowledge of fascism or the Nazi regime. The FA's regulatory commission recommended that Hennessey “familiarise himself” with the history of the Nazi regime.

The panel said other photographs from the evening showed Hennessey’s arm “raised in slightly different but comparable postures”. Hennessey vehemently denied making the offensive gesture, saying he "waved and shouted at the person taking the picture to get on with it" and "put my hand over my mouth to make the sound carry".

The row first erupted in January when the photo was posted on Instagram by Palace midfielder Max Meyer, who is German. The panel, led by William Norris QC, said in its findings that from the outset of the case the goalkeeper categorically denied he was giving a Nazi salute and did not even know what one was. "Improbable as that may seem to those of us of an older generation, we do not reject that assertion as untrue,” said the panel. “In fact, when cross-examined about this Mr Hennessey displayed a very considerable — one might even say lamentable - degree of ignorance about anything to do with Hitler, Fascism and the Nazi regime.

“Regrettable though it may be that anyone should be unaware of so important a part of our own and world history, we do not feel we should therefore find he was not telling the truth about this. All we would say (at the risk of sounding patronising) is that Mr Hennessey would be well advised to familiarise himself with events which continue to have great significance to those who live in a free country.”

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Other Palace players who were at the dinner gave evidence in support of Hennessey including Meyer, Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha, as well as the Palace manager Roy Hodgson.

Meyer posted the picture on an Instagram story, which has since expired, following the 1-0 win over League Two side Grimsby. Hennessey has made 81 appearances for Wales and helped his country to the Euro 2016 semi-final.

Hennessey also provided pictures of him during matches “adopting an identical posture” which the panel accepted was because he was trying to communicate with and organise his defence."