Former Town full-back Mauricio Taricco, now the assistant to Gus Poyet at South Korean K-League side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, has been suspended for five matches for making a racist gesture.

Taricco, 52, was sent off in the November 8th match against Daejeon after arguing with the referee while appealing for a penalty for handball.

According to a statement from the K-League’s disciplinary committee, the Argentinian is reported to have shouted “racista”, the Spanish word for racist, to the official, before making a “slant-eye gesture”.

Taricco insisted that he had pointed to his eyes to indicate that the referee hadn’t seen the handball.

However, the the disciplinary committee said: “The evaluation of a specific act should be based on the universal meaning of the act as expressed, rather than the perpetrator’s stated intentions.

“Based on these criteria, coach Taricco’s actions were identical to the widely known ‘slant-eye’ derogatory gesture against Asians and sufficiently inflicted feelings of racial insult on the recipient.”

In addition to the five-match ban, Taricco, who was with the Blues between 1994 and 1998 and also played in England for Spurs, Brighton and briefly West Ham, was fined 20 million won (£10,369).

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls