Former Shrewsbury Town player Andre Gray charged by FA over homophobic tweets
Former Shrewsbury Town footballer Andre Gray has been charged with misconduct over homophobic tweets posted four years ago, the Football Association has announced.
The now Burnley striker has said he wanted to ask for "forgiveness" from anyone offended by the comments - tweeted between January 9, 2012 and March 11, 2012 - which he described as mistakes. He insisted he was not homophobic.
His comments came hours after he scored in Burnley's 2-0 win against Liverpool on Saturday.
In a statement on his Twitter account on Saturday the 25-year-old, who was part of Shrewsbury Town's youth set up and made four senior appearances for the club, said he had changed in recent years, and was trying to become "a better person".
Gray was playing non-league football for Hinckley when he posted the offensive tweets. One of the messages read: "Is it me or are there gays everywhere? #Burn #Die #Makesmesick"
The player, who also had a loan spell at AFC Telford, said: "The tweets were posted four years ago when I was a completely different person to the man I am now. I was at a very different point in my life back then - one that I've worked hard to move on from."
The tweets, which are said to have been deleted, were posted before he joined Burnley.
The club released a statement saying it does not condone "discriminatory behaviour" but added "these are social posts from four years ago, and in this time he has completely transformed his life".
