Wigan chairman Dave Whelan could face fresh disciplinary action after he referred to his old local Chinese restaurant as “chingalings” in an interview with a Jewish newspaper yesterday.

The 78-year-old has been given until December 12 to respond to a Football Association misconduct charge over remarks he made about Jewish and Chinese people in a newspaper interview where he was trying to defend the appointment of Malky Mackay as the club’s new manager.

Mackay is also the subject of an FA investigation into allegedly racist text messages he sent during his time at Cardiff. Both men deny being racist.

The Guardian had reported that Whelan said: “Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else’’ and, when asked about Mackay’s past indiscretions, replied by saying it was “nothing” to call a Chinese person a “chink.”

On that last point, the Jewish Telegraph asked Whelan whether he himself had ever used the term “chink,” to which he replied: “When I was growing up we used to call the Chinese ‘chingalings.’

“We weren’t being disrespected. We used to say: ‘We’re going to eat in chingalings.’

“The Chinese weren’t offended by that. That was the name everyone in Wigan called it (the first Chinese cafe in Wigan).”

Michael Wilkes, a spokesman for community group the British Chinese Project w, responded to Whelan’s latest comments by telling the Guardian: “Once again, Mr Whelan, rather distressingly, believes he can speak on behalf of Chinese people.

“His comments are extremely unhelpful in our fight to end discrimination and racism against Chinese people in the UK. Once more, he is using a public platform to tell a wide audience what Chinese people find offensive.

“Contrary to what Mr Whelan may believe, the vast majority of our community deem the terms ‘chink’ and ‘chingaling’ highly offensive. For many in the Chinese community these words hold deep emotional resonance, as they are often used in conjunction with racial violence, harassment and hate crimes.

“Therefore, to say that ‘there is nothing wrong’ with using such terms or that Chinese people ‘aren’t offended’ by their use, demonstrates a dangerous level of ignorance.”

Whelan said he would resign if the FA “even suggest I’m guilty” of making racist remarks.