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Millwall CLOSE a section of the Den after hooliganism & racist chanting

  /  autty

Millwall have closed a section of The Den to deal with problematic fans.

They will also up the number of stewards and the police presence in the ground after the incident that overshadowed their 3-2 victory against Everton in the FA Cup fourth round.

Millwall fans were filmed taunting Everton supporters with racist slurs  - chanting they would 'rather be a P*** than a Scouse' at away supporters.

The clip was added to a user's Snapchat story during the fourth-round match, which saw the Championship side knock out their Premier League opponents.

One video, that has since been removed from the user's account but was captured by Twitter user @AnwarEllis, included the derogatory lyrics about Muslims.

Other clips from the match show the same set of supporters, sat in the Dockers Stand, chanting 'your mum's a slag' and 'your dad's a nonce'.

There was also a mass brawl away from the ground before kick-off. An Everton fan was slashed with a knife across his face.

Chief executive Steve Kavanagh says the club have decided to close the area of the ground as they bid to end the negative reputation which has haunted them for years.

'We have got together to put a raft of measures in place to make sure we try to rid this club of any of these tags, and anyone who wants to commit racism or any form of hate – they're just not welcome at Millwall,' told Talksport on Wednesday.

'We have shut the top section of block 17, 18 and 19, we've put extra stewarding in that area which will stay until the end of the season at least and police spotters will be up there to make sure the area is controlled.

'We are not being the fun police.

'We are making sure people don't go over the line and that it's an environment where people can enjoy the game, celebrate football and do it properly.

'It's important to us to try and rid this image.

'Myself and my staff, we've all been affected by this. It felt awful and it was a terrible situation.

'We've been hurt by it and that's made us extra empowered to go and change what's happening and try and improve this for everyone.

'We don't want this, were hurt by it and it's not what Millwall want as a football club.'

A 27-year-old man has now been arrested after the slashing incident.

Police called the scenes 'absolutely shocking' as fighting broke out between groups of fans before and after an FA Cup clash on January 26.

The injured Everton supporter posted a picture on social media showing a long scar down the right side of his face.

Detective Sergeant Matt Simpson, from the Metropolitan Police Public Order Investigation Team, said: 'The disorder which we witnessed was absolutely shocking. It involved dozens of people and lasted for a number of hours.

'We are carrying out a large-scale investigation into the disorder, which left at least one person with a serious injury.

'We have hours of CCTV and hundreds of images which we are closely reviewing, and we have a team of experts working to identify those involved.'

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