His comments are racist, there's no defending that!
Has he said them, yes. Has he been on record saying them, yes. Does that make him a racist, yes. Loose comments or not, he has said them on more than one occasion, in fact repeatedly. Have others done the same, possibly and if they'd been caught then they'd be racist as well. If a murderer kills someone, they're a murderer for life. The same applies here. The fact that you're even defending the guy is worrying, it makes me think that you're willing to forgive his character flaw and pass it off as a minor indiscretion.
What he did would have seen him sacked from any other job in the world and should have seen him out of the game entirely. Just because he's supposedly learnt doesn't excuse his past and mistakes. Sure he can attend courses and stop doing it, but redemption, not a chance he made comments knowing what they were and that's simply unforgivable, there is no place for it in the world and football at all.