Mark Sampson: Ex-England boss takes legal action on dismissed case

Mark Sampson was in charge of the Lionesses between 2013 and 2017

Former England women's manager Mark Sampson says he is pursuing legal action after he was cleared of using racist language while caretaker boss at Stevenage.

The case was dismissed in January after it was found not proven by an independent commission.

Sampson, 37, was charged in November 2019 after an allegation by a former coach at League Two side Stevenage.

"I've got to make sure that situation doesn't happen again," said Sampson.

"So I've pursued legal action against the people who made the accusation. Ultimately I appealed the charge, the club appealed the charge with me, we were successful," he added in an interview with BBC Sport.

"I think that highlights how strong our case was and the fact that once an independent panel - a group of reasonable, minded people were able to see the evidence - the case was dismissed."

Following the charge, Stevenage said the allegations had "no foundation", while Sampson was "completely confident" he would clear his name.

Sampson, who is currently assistant manager at Stevenage, was sacked by England in 2017 after evidence of "inappropriate and unacceptable" behaviour with female players in a previous role.

Before his dismissal, Sampson had been cleared of wrongdoing following discrimination allegations made by England players, including then Chelsea and Lionesses striker Eniola Aluko.

The Football Association and Sampson subsequently apologised to Aluko and team-mate Drew Spence for racially discriminatory remarks after an independent barrister ruled he made unacceptable "ill-judged attempts at humour" on two occasions.

Sampson brought an unfair dismissal case against the FA who reached an out-of-court settlement with him. He enrolled on a six-week diversity course with anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out.