The Football Association have issued a warning to Millwall after incidents of offensive chants by their supporters during a Championship game in April.
The FA said it will impose ‘a very significant financial penalty’ on the English club if they fail to prevent such incidents of discriminatory abuse by their fans in future.
An independent Regulatory Commission has also imposed an action plan on the Lions after FA Rule E21 was breached three times during their league match against Wigan Athletic in April.
Millwall admitted they failed to ensure their supporters behaved in an orderly fashion and abuse with ‘express or implied reference to religion’ occurred three times.
The offensive chants were aimed at Wigan’s James McClean in the eighth, 12th and 45th minutes of the game.
The imposed action plan on the Lions includes making their fans aware of the charge and that the chants were offensive and constituted a criminal offence.
The club will also ‘ensure that the prevention and detection of any discriminatory or inappropriate behaviour is sufficiently addressed, and is readily available for inspection by the Football Authorities and the appropriate Safety Advisory Group’.
They must also evaluate their CCTV and public address messages and also send two stewards to away games that are deemed ‘high risk’.
Millwall released a statement following the FA’s warning: “The club strongly condemns discrimination of all kinds and has a zero-tolerance policy against such abuse.
“Through the work of its industry-leading Equality Steering Committee, the club takes a very proactive approach to combatting discrimination and continues to work tirelessly on a wide range of initiatives and measures to help continue driving positive change.”
Millwall have failed to make a good start to the 2023-24 season, winning just four of their 11 matches to drop down to 15th in the Championship standings.
They played out a 2-2 draw with Hull City before the international break and travel to face Preston North End this weekend.
