Harry Redknapp defends Malky Mackay, saying the former Cardiff boss is ‘not a rapist or paedophile’

The Malky Mackay controversy rolls on, and the QPR manager's defence of the Scot is sure to keep it front and centre.

From the disgraceful text messages to the botched apology from the League Managers Association, the Malky Mackay/Ian Moody affair has been pretty sordid so far. Today, with a lot of managers facing their weekly press conferences, we expected them to be asked about the former Cardiff manager and what his private communications said about the state of the game across the water. First up was QPR's Harry Redknapp and he went out to bat for Mackay, but he went for a rather bizarre way of doing it. "What I would say is that Malky Mackay has made a big mistake," Redknapp said. "I don't know the other lad (Moody) but what they have done is not right. Malky is a great lad, a family man and a real football man, he has made mistakes and people make mistakes in life. "Suddenly everyone is an angel, he made a big mistake the lad but it shouldn't finish his life. He is a good manager and I feel bad for what he has done but I bet no one is feeling as bad as him or his family today. "I'm not condoning what he has done but show me someone who has ever made a mistake and I will show you a liar. He hasn't murdered anyone, he hasn't raped anyone and he is not a paedophile." Redknapp carried on to say that Mackay deserves a second chance. "People get second chances in life who have committed bad crimes - he has made a mistake but we aren't going to hang him for it are we? "Hopefully he will learn from what he has done but everyone does the tweeting and texting. I don't send text messages, but I do receive them with sick jokes. I don't read them, they make me ill. "He is a good person underneath all that and I hope he comes back, I can't feel how he must be suffering for the big mistake he has made."