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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lewis Pangratiou

Millwall CEO announces new campaign after fan trouble at FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace

Millwall CEO Steve Kavanagh has launched the 'Don't be a Tosser' campaign after a number of fans were caught throwing missiles onto the pitch and towards opposition players in The Lions' 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Home fans saw their team eliminated from the FA Cup after narrowly losing their Third Round tie to Patrick Vieira's Eagles.

Although Millwall put in a good performance at The Den, the game was marred by poor crowd behaviour from a section of the home support.

Some fans became the latest to use a homophobic chant towards Palace loanee Conor Gallagher.

The club have since promised lifetime bans for anybody found guilty of such discriminatory abuse, whilst the CPS have now warned that they're ready to take action against anyone caught using the chant, allowing for the FA to sanction individual clubs.

In addition to that, fans were caught throwing missiles onto the pitch, one of which struck Eagles player, Michael Olise.

There were three separate alleged incidents of discriminatory abuse and two arrests were made after a steward was physically assaulted. Some fans also booed Palace players for taking the knee before kick-off.

A supporter later ran onto the pitch and there were numerous accounts of drug use.

A statement from Kavanagh on the club's official website read: "While the absolute majority of supporters behaved impeccably and did nothing other than provide unwavering backing of their team, there were a small group of people who regrettably and depressingly overstepped the mark.

"Countless missiles were thrown on to the pitch, one of which as we all saw struck a Palace player; there were three separate incidents of individual discriminatory abuse; unsavoury chanting; a physical assault of a steward; numerous reports of drug taking in toilets; and a pitch incursion.

"It is with tremendous regret that I am having to communicate in such a way but this is all an unfortunate and uncomfortable truth which as a club and as a fan base we must address."

Kavanagh continued by announcing the 'Don't be a Tosser' campaign.

As part of the new initiative, the club will start emptying any bottles brought into the Dockers Stand at The Den, starting with this weekend's home game against Nottingham Forest.

Dogs will also patrol the ground to prevent drug taking in the stadium.

Kavanagh added: "The severity of this threat [throwing missles] is very real, and it is with that in mind that we are launching a new ‘Don’t be a Tosser’ campaign which we hope will contribute to the prevention of such incidents in the future."

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