English club Manchester United have fired Torben Aakjaer, one of the club's European scouts, over allegations of racially offensive comments on Facebook.

A club spokesman confirmed they had terminated Torben Aakjaer’s contract, having suspended him yesterday after being alerted to a stream of offensive Facebook posts and comments, which have since been removed. The comments also indicated support for Denmark to close its borders to immigrants.

A statement from Old Trafford read: "The club received the evidence from the Guardian, launched an immediate investigation into the matter and has terminated our association with Mr Aakjaer. Manchester United is an inclusive organisation and will not tolerate this sort of behaviour."

Aakjaer joined the United scouting team in 2011 after working at German side Hamburg.

According to the English newspaper his Facebook account also contained derogatory references to eastern Europeans, including a message of support for the right-wing Dansk Folkeparti’s views about border control and a photograph of six pigs with a caption: “It’s time to deploy our secret weapons against Islamists.”

Aakjaer has confirmed that the account to be his and that some of the comments are accurate, but denied using any racist or aggressive terms, having previously said that the comments had been “taken out of context” and possibly mistranslated.

“I do believe we should close the borders, as many Danish people do, but I would never use this aggressive language,” said the Copenhagen-based scout.

“I would never write ‘dirt and shit’. I’ve never written anything racist and it doesn’t sound like me. I am not racist at all and I am shocked. When I hear this it sends a different message of the person I am.” he added.

From The Guardian