The former Wycombe Wanderers and Millwall defender Danny Senda has been banned from football for four years after touching two women inappropriately and making offensive comments to them last year.
Senda, who was briefly assistant manager at Charlton Athletic last summer, received his punishment after admitting two charges of misconduct. The Football Association said it was “deeply sorry” to the two women, who were on an overseas coaching course with the former footballer when the incidents took place.
The independent FA commission that banned Senda stated that the 42-year-old was in a bar when the women entered with a small group of other people. The first complainant said that Senda pulled her towards him, placed his left arm over her right shoulder and put his other hand down the front of her shorts.
The report states that when the complainant pushed Senda away and confronted him, he responded by saying: “You’re fucking coming back to my room.”
The first complainant, who described herself as “shocked and stunned”, moved away from Senda and received support from colleagues. She then saw Senda approach the second complainant and place his hands on her breasts. The report stated that he said words to the effect of “you’re coming back to mine tonight” but the woman moved away from him and followed the first complainant out of the bar.
In both cases the commission described Senda’s behaviour as a “criminal sexual assault” on the complainants. However the women opted not to make a criminal complaint, and with the incident occurring overseas the UK authorities had no jurisdiction to act.
The women reported the incidents to course leaders, and Senda was immediately asked to leave the course. He requested the opportunity to apologise and the women met him before he flew back to the UK. The women then made a formal complaint to the FA.
The first complainant said later that she felt “a sense of guilt” for reporting the incident and added that there are many issues for women working in football. She worried that reporting Senda would affect her career prospects. The second complainant expressed similar concerns over the impact on her career.
Senda had a 13-year playing career and made 277 league appearances for Wycombe before representing Millwall, Torquay, Bristol Rovers and Barnet. Since retiring he has held coaching roles at Brentford, Barnet, Leyton Orient and Charlton. He was appointed assistant manager at Charlton in May 2023 but left the League One club after Dean Holden was sacked as manager in August.
The commission said Senda’s breaches were of “the utmost seriousness” and that they “amounted to the commission of criminal offences that could never be condoned or tolerated in any environment”.
The panel stated that Senda had no recollection of committing the offences when interviewed by the FA in July, which he attributed to his consumption of alcohol, but did not deny them. It initially felt a six-year ban was appropriate but this was reduced to four years to reflect Senda’s early admission of the charges he faced.
An FA spokesperson said: “Women deserve to be involved in professional football without the fear of any form of abuse. This was a shocking case, and we investigated the very serious allegations as soon as we were made aware of them.
“We thank the victims for reporting the incidents to us, and supporting the investigation through to its conclusion, and we are deeply sorry that they endured such a terrible experience.
“The behaviour shown by Daniel Senda in June 2023 will not be tolerated. We will investigate all allegations of sexual assault in a football environment which are reported to us – usually working with the police, but in this case the incidents happened overseas so were not within the jurisdiction of UK law enforcement.
“We hope that the very lengthy ban serves as a strong deterrent, and a clear signal that women in football will be supported and protected and offenders will be severely punished.”
