Race joke row man is sacked

THE man who booked comic Stan Boardman for a Leeds United awards night, sparking off a major race row has been sacked.

Boardman fired off a string of racist gags and even told Asian guest Steve Thomas: "Go back to your curry house in Bradford... your elephant is waiting."

He also made a joke with racist overtones about United players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate, who were cleared last year of assaulting Asian student Safraz Najeib.

Now corporate relations manager Keith Hanvey, who booked Boardman, has been made redundant. He said the decision had come as a shock but admitted the club "hadn't been happy" about Boardman's booking. He didn't think he had been made a scapegoat.

The awards night at United's Elland Road ground in May was considered a huge own goal so soon after the trial. At the time Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale said he was unaware that Boardman had been booked.

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