Khaled El-Ahmad: Barnsley FC have learned lessons from sponsorship link with cryptocurrency firm which was 'an honest mistake'

The Reds announced the deal in late summer, but the relationship was ended after just seven days following an investigation into homophobic social media posts allegedly made following the announcement of the partnership.

El-Ahmad says that due diligence will be increased when it comes to choosing future partners with the club and a new code of conduct has been drawn up. There will also be more consultation with supporters.

He said: "We were presented with the company by a third-party agency and with the due diligence we did, we felt quite comfortable. It was a crypto (company), but you have Crawley, Inter Milan and other partners looking into crypto.

"We thought it was maybe something we could be innovative with. We signed the deal. However, very quickly, thanks to our fans, it was (discovered that it was) not the company paying us the money, but three individuals and they had history.

"But when we were presented with the company, it was not three individuals, but the company itself. In hindsight, it was a big mistake and we should have done better due diligence.

"It was an honest mistake.

"We have added a (new) sign-off document of due diligence - not just one, but several persons. We are going to look for companies to sign a (new) code of conduct agreement as well.

"It says code of conduct in the (existing) contract itself, but we’re doing another one, just to really make sure the partners we bring in are aligned with what we stand for.

"Any company that we bring in, we are going to really consider (things). One or the things that came up in the review was that if we are going in an innovative way, is it worth speaking to the fans about it that we are having these discussions to make sure it aligns with them.

"It's hard to say you’ll never align (again) with what some can look at as an innovation. We weren't the only looking at crypto. I think when we move forward, we’ll have to look at doing a much better job in aligning everybody when bringing on board that type of partner."