David Moyes is accused of verbally abusing another female reporter back in 2012

Just-surfaced audio of an 2012 incident involving a female reporter may cause further problems for David Moyes. Moyes, currently Sunderland’s manager, has been under fire since joking about slapping a female reporter last week, and he had to submit a written account of his actions to the governing Football Association, which will now decide whether to charge him. Audio has now emerged of Moyes delivering a profane rant at another female BBC reporter, Jacqui Oatley, back in 2012 while he was still managing Everton. Here’s the clip, via The Telegraph; Moyes gets visibly annoyed with Oatley during his on-camera interview (where she asks about a Marouane Fellaini headbutt and previous incidents involving him), then swears at her as he walks away after the interview ends;

Moyes’ “Bad enough asking me about the first one never mind asking me another one. I’ve not seen the other stuff. It’s down to the FA. I’ve answered your question and you’ve come back with another one,” on-camera response is terse, but not actionable, but the profane post-interview rant at Oatley may not help his case. There’s no reference to her gender in that rant, but Oatley reportedly lodged a complaint with Everton about Moyes’ behavior and did not receive a response. The BBC is looking into the actions taken at the time.

By itself, the Oatley incident might not warrant a ton of punishment for Moyes. Swearing at reporters isn’t a great look for a a manager, but doing so off-camera happens from time to time. However, this doesn’t look good in the context of his recent “slap” comments, which FA chairman Greg Clarke called “distasteful.” The Oatley incident isn’t quite as bad (especially if the language in question wasn’t gendered), but it takes away from Moyes’ defense that this was a one-time incident. We’ll see if there’s punishment coming for him, but the criticisms of him are only likely to grow in the wake of this new discovery.

[The Telegraph]