Ex Lionesses boss Mark Sampson is taking legal action after he was cleared of using racist language when he was the caretaker manager at Stevenage.

Sampson was charged in November last year after being accused by a former coach at the league two side. His case was dismissed in January after an independent commission found it was not proven.

"I've got to make sure that situation doesn't happen again," he told BBC Sport.

"So I've pursued legal action against the people who made the accusation. Ultimately I appealed the charge, the club appealed the charge with me, we were successful.

“I think that highlights how strong our case was and the fact that once an independent panel - a group of reasonable, minded people were able to see the evidence - the case was dismissed.”

The 37 year-old remains at the club as assistant manager.

Before taking the position at Stevenage, Sampson was sacked from his post at England in 2017 after evidence was found of ‘inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour’. 

He was cleared of all wrongdoing after discrimation allegations were made against him by players Eniola Aluko and Drew Spence.

He and the Football Association later apologised to the players for racially discriminatory comments after ‘ill-judged attempts at humour’.

Following his sacking, Sampson brought a case against the FA which was settled out of court. He did attend a diversity course with Kick it Out, an anti-discrimination charity.