FA charge Burnley striker Andre Gray with misconduct for homophobic comments made on social media

Andre Gray made the remarks on twitter four years ago during his time at Hinckley United

Andre Gray issued an apology last week for the remarks (Getty)

The Football Association (FA) have charged Andre Gray with misconduct for homophobic comments the Burnley striker made on social media four years ago.

The tweets, which date back to January 2012 when Gray was playing for non-league Hinckley United, began to resurface following the 25-year-old’s goal in a 2-0 Premier League win over Liverpool on Saturday.

Several of the offensive messages, some of which appeared to condone killing gay people, were subsequently deleted. One read: "Is it me or are there gays everywhere? #Burn #Die #Makesmesick”.

Another read: “Ladies stop dressin ur sons as women in heels and make up. Do you want him to end up like #PeteBurns #F****.”

Gray’s tweets have received widespread condemnation from social media users, people inside football and LGBT organisations.

The incident comes just a month after he criticised two Burnley fans for racism during a pre-season friendly.

In a statement made on Saturday night, Gray said he was now a "completely different person" to the one who posted those messages and he did not "hold the beliefs written in those tweets”.

"I want to offer a sincere and unreserved apology to anybody I may have offended in relation to these tweets,” Gray said.

An FA statement on the subject of the charge read: "Burnley's Andre Gray has been charged with misconduct in respect of social media comments made between 9 January 2012 and 11 March 2012.

"It is alleged the comments were abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute contrary to FA Rule E3(1).

"It is further alleged that these breaches include reference to an 'aggravating factor', namely, sexual orientation and/or gender and/or colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3(2)."

Gray now has just over a week until Wednesday 31st August at 6pm to respond to the charge.