Exclusive: FA to grill Di Canio after new race storm swirls around Swindon boss



Paolo di Canio is at the centre of a race storm after the FA launched an investigation into his conduct as manager of Swindon.



Di Canio, who led the club to the League Two title in his first year at the helm, will be interviewed by the FA after they received a letter last week from Orient's Jonathan Tehoue.

Tehoue, who spent a short spell on loan at Swindon, claims he was racially abused by Di Canio, and several of Swindon's players who witnessed the alleged remark directed towards Tehoue - after he had left the club - have shown support for the striker.

Questioned: Swindon manager Paolo Di Canio

They are prepared to testify before an FA commission if their manager is charged.

It is the third high-profile incident involving allegedly racist comments the FA have had to investigate this season.

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was banned for eight games and fined £40,000 after he was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.



The FA also have an ongoing investigation into John Terry's conduct towards QPR's Anton Ferdinand during Chelsea's Barclays Premier League clash at Loftus Road in October.

They are now turning their attentions to Di Canio and believe the allegations against the 43-year-old fall into the same category as Uruguayan Suarez, who was charged with using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour… and further alleged that this included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race.

Claim: Jonathan Tehoue

Italian Di Canio fell out with Frenchman Tehoue in March. He claimed he had made a mistake signing the forward on loan and told the 28-year-old he would never play for the club again.

Last month former West Ham striker Di Canio said: 'It's a technical decision. He's not as good as I thought he was. It's really impossible to think that he will be on a football pitch for Swindon again.



'My main players give me 100 per cent because they have suffered with me all season.



'I have much better players than him in the way I want them to behave and the way I want them to play.'



Di Canio is later alleged to have made a racially insulting comment about Tehoue in front of Swindon players.

Although Tehoue was not present the tone and manner of Di Canio's comments were later relayed to him by his former team-mates.



Tehoue, who made one start and two substitutes' appearances at Swindon, initially made a complaint to the club's chief executive Nicholas Watkins.



The matter was investigated by the club and they asked Di Canio for his comments, but Swindon refused to confirm whether the manager has been disciplined.



After Di Canio met Watkins, he went back to Italy for a short break before returning to the County Ground at the start of the week.

Race rows: Suarez and Evra (left), and Terry and Ferdinand (right)



The Swindon chief was at the club on Monday and has met their legal team to discuss the impending investigation.



Di Canio has claimed in the past that he is 'a fascist, not a racist' after appearing to perform a straight-arm salute at Lazio in 2005.



He was banned by Italian football authorities and fined £7,000 after saluting Lazio fans for the third time in a year.



Swindon confirmed that they are aware of the allegations and the FA's investigation into Di Canio's conduct.



A spokesman for the club said: 'It's with our lawyers, we cannot say any more.'



Di Canio was unavailable for comment.



