Former AFC Wimbledon managing director Danny Macklin has been banned from football for 14 weeks after admitting making abusive and sexist comments about a female colleague.
Macklin, 42, used words that were “aggressive, violent and badly misogynistic”, a Football Association hearing was told.
He admitted the charge at a hearing last month.
Macklin was banned until 25 March and must also complete an education course.
The FA said the charge against Macklin, who has also held posts at Leyton Orient and Southend, constituted an “aggravated breach” of rules “as his language included a reference – whether express or implied – to gender”.
AFC Wimbledon said at the time that the club acted to “promptly resolve” the incident, with Macklin leaving his role at the League Two club on 8 September – before the allegations were made public.
His comments were made in his office, in front of two colleagues of the victim – who was not named by the independent regulatory commission – and came to light as he had been covertly recorded.
The recording was obtained by The Times, with Macklin telling the commission his mental health had “suffered greatly” since the article.
He went missing on 1 December, prompting a police search before he was found in Looe, Cornwall, hundreds of miles from where he was last seen in Essex.
The commission said there was “no excuse” for Macklin’s comments but considered a fine “would not be appropriate” as he had already suffered financially from struggling to find another job.
Macklin’s secretly recorded comments came in response to an email the victim had sent him on 8 August 2023, expressing concerns about her workload and the impact it was having on her mental health.
Two days later – prior to the recording being discovered – she was invited to a meeting with Wimbledon’s HR department, where a settlement agreement was proposed which would have led to her leaving the club.
Both the victim and Macklin were made aware of the recording on 12 August, with Macklin contacting her on her private email at 23:38 BST that evening – outlining that she could face “criminal prosecution” if she discussed or shared any “confidential, sensitive or personal information” with any “outside individual or organisation, including the media”.
Macklin apologised to the victim on 25 September, but only after The Times had published their article, so no mitigation for that was applied by the commission as there had been no apology when the recording was first discovered.
He denied being sexist or misogynistic, pointing towards equality and diversity initiatives he had backed during his career, adding that he has been using his period of unemployment to further “learn and develop” in the area.
Wimbledon issued a brief statement after the decision, saying the club “strives to be a responsible and inclusive community club at all times”.
“The behaviour highlighted in this enquiry will not be tolerated,” it added.
