A lot of Leeds United fans have responded to Jonathan Leko’s statement after a verdict was reached in the Kiko Casilla hearing that has resulted in an eight-game ban for the Spaniard.
This was after he was found guilty by an independent commission of using racist language towards Leko.
Do you agree with Leko that the FA took too long?
Yes, it was a joke
No, they took the required time
20-year-old Leko, who is valued at £1.35m by Transfermarkt, has released a statement via the West Bromwich Albion website that said he was angered and upset by what Casilla allegedly said to him.
Leko also claimed that it has been difficult to watch Casilla continue to play and that he was disappointed with the time taken to reach a verdict.
Finally, Leko heavily criticised the whole process and said that he had found the entire thing to be extremely stressful, and he said he had no support from ‘Kick it Out‘ or ‘Show Racism The Red Card’.
This has received a mixed reaction from these Leeds fans – with some thinking that Leko is wrong.
Jonathan Leko issues statement after Casilla verdict on time taken to resolve case, PFA & anti racism bodies:
“It made me question whether I would be prepared to go through it all again were I on the receiving end of similar abuse in the future". #lufchttps://t.co/SrFgWIM1vj pic.twitter.com/XwN15ta1gS
— Adam Pope (@apopey) March 4, 2020
He didn’t even hear Kiko say anything.
— AdamB992 (@AdamB992) March 4, 2020
Boo Hoo He didn’t even hear Kiko.. Two of them couldn’t even agree on what happened.. Stich Up.. ? pic.twitter.com/lyaVaykkiU
— borisirishwhite (@leinsterwhite) March 4, 2020
Strange how only leko and Bonne heard it and the fa only believed leko and Bonne,
— mark ant jepson (@mrleedsunited) March 4, 2020
Other Whites supporters, though, agree with him and feel that the FA have mishandled the situation.
Without defending Kiko at all, I think the whole process has been handled appallingly for all parties involved.
— Bruce The Bad Cat (@BruceTheBadCat) March 4, 2020
We need to change this mentality, you should not be scared to come forward if someone has abused you. The FA really need to review their process, why did it take so long to sort out?
— George Withey (@withey_george) March 4, 2020
”It has been difficult to watch Kiko Casilla continue to play for such a lengthy period”.
To be fair many Leeds fans thought the same for a good couple of months. ? Joking aside, he’s right, it’s a shambles the FA took so long to complete their process.
— Anders Lagerfjärd (@jalager) March 4, 2020
It took far too long for this to be concluded truly appalling for all concerned. Leko deserves credit for standing up to racism. Casilla should never play for us again.
— The one that got away (@KevinMi29819768) March 4, 2020
What do we think?
As Leko says in his statement, there were 22 weeks between the incident and the hearing’s verdict – which in our opinion, is disgraceful.
We think the whole thing should have been dealt with a lot quicker, and then the uncertainty for both Casilla and Leko might not have lasted as long.