Seattle Sounders FC have cut ties with former coach and broadcaster Alan Hinton after he posted a series of tweets on Monday, according to Jayda Evans of The Seattle Times.
Among the tweets sent out by Hinton, who was serving as a brand ambassador for the team, was one in which he described his attitude toward Black players during his playing days: “Love you if you help us win our bonuses.” Hinton played at the top level of English soccer from 1961 to 1975.
Hinton previously said that he used question marks in all of his punctuations when he first joined Twitter in 2011, according to Evans, and he’s since kept it up as a running joke.
“Sounders FC has ended its independent-contractor relationship with Alan Hinton,” the club said in a statement. “Hinton’s tweets on June 1 are not congruous with our club values, and as such, he will no longer be representing the organization in an ambassadorial capacity.”
On Wednesday, Hinton took to Twitter again to explain his remarks, saying he was merely trying to articulate how soccer players felt 50 years ago toward Black players, and acknowledged that he did not choose his words carefully enough.
