Nicolas Anelka’s quenelle gesture embarrassed and damaged West Bromwich Albion, the club’s chairman has said.
Speaking for the first time about the affair, Jeremy Pearce said it had been a “huge issue in terms of our standing”.
West Brom terminated the player’s contract after he had made the gesture – a form of Nazi salute – during a Premier League match in December 2013.
The move came after the Football Association banned Anelka for five matches and fined him £80,000.
Mr Peace told the Express and Star newspaper that attempts to make the player apologise failed.
He said: “We got Nicolas in here with his advisers. Richard Garlick (Albion’s technical director at the time) was dealing with him.
“I was in my office in the room next door. I said I want him to say ‘I am sorry to all these people’.
“They tried to draw up a statement. There was a mealy-mouthed paragraph and I said (to Garlick): ‘He hasn’t apologised, get him to apologise.’
“It was quite clear he wasn’t going to so, bang – out. Right, sever the contract, cut it. It was gross misconduct, because of the damage he’d done.
Mr Peace added that he felt “extremely strongly” that Anelka should have apologised, “because of the damage (he caused) to everyone, to the community he affected, the embarrassment he caused to the club”.
Anelka is currently playing in the Indian Super League. The FA has insisted that he serve his five-match ban in India.
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