Malky Mackay: 'I'm no racist, sexist, homophobe or anti-Semite'

Former Cardiff boss Malky Mackay says he is not racist, sexist, homophobic or anti-Semitic despite admitting sending offensive text messages.

In an interview, Mackay claimed only three messages of thousands recovered had been sent by him.

"They are completely unacceptable, inappropriate, and for that I sincerely apologise," said the 42-year-old Scot.

"I'm a leader of people and it shouldn't have happened, but I'm a human being and I made a mistake."

Mackay is alleged to have shared the texts with former Cardiff colleague Iain Moody, who quit his position as Crystal Palace sporting director shortly after the allegations came to light.

"Out of 10,000 text messages in and out of someone's phone, I sent three," added Mackay.

"There is no excuse. It was a period where I was under pressure and stress in terms of relationships which were not going well at my football club at the time. Once again, that doesn't actually excuse anything."

The League Managers' Association issued a statement expressing Mackay's regret on Thursday but came under fire for describing the offensive texts as "friendly banter".

A number of anti-discrimination campaigners criticised the LMA and the statement, while Cardiff City called for LMA chief Richard Bevan to resign.

Mackay said Bevan should remain in his job.

"I've not used the word 'banter', but the overall statement was very accurate," said Mackay. "That word is wrong and the LMA soon realised that and they've tried to correct that.

"There's various parts of the statement which showed there was contrition on my part. I think every manager in the country backs the LMA and Richard Bevan. I don't think he should resign."

The Football Association says it is investigating claims of misconduct after being sent a dossier by Cardiff.

Both Mackay and Moody were sacked by the Bluebirds last year.

Moody lost his job as head of player recruitment in October 2013 following a dispute with Cardiff owner Vincent Tan over transfer activity.

That is said to have strained the relationship between Tan and Mackay, who was sacked following a 3-0 defeat by Southampton in December.

Mackay added: "These are testing times, make no mistake about that.

"But I've got values and resilience and I've got a love for British football and I will come back from this."