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They even dared to tell us, by email, that the abuse was caused by our players themselves because of their attitude on the field of play.
So onto yesterday and suddenly we see the self congratulations in the match day programme on how well the fans are doing – enough to make your blood boil.
Onto the game Mo Camara was roundly booed by the home fans every time he touched the ball although certainly from the away end it did sound as if it was booing and there was no indication that any of it was racist abuse.
It certainly was from the away end though where cries of, "You’ll always be a Paki," were certainly directed at one Millwall player from a small bunch of people. No action was taken by the police or any of the Millwall stewards, quite simply they did not appear to want to know.
After the match our manager Stan Ternent has attacked the Millwall supporters for racially abusing Mo and said it had happened two weeks earlier as well. Stan should have complained then, he has a duty to complain then so no wonder this smug London club were claiming there had been no complaints.
Burnley Football Club got it seriously wrong two weeks ago. I have often accused them of paying lip service to anti-racist initiatives and again they failed to take the appropriate action and let down their own player and their own supporters.
Stan clearly heard Mo being abused racially yesterday and rightly it upset him – just because it could not be heard from the away end does not mean it didn’t happen. And better late than never he finally snapped and had something to say about it.
Well he’s achieved one thing now – it is out in the open as it all hits the fan and something needs to be done.
I do though find the response from Paphitis astonishing and appalling. He still suggests that the problems two weeks ago are unsubstantiated and quite honestly that is disgraceful. I don’t question his work in trying to improve things but he has to accept the problems when they occur.
He does admit that there were complaints yesterday and confirmed that the club are already investigating them. There needs to be action and I hope that both clubs will very soon be prepared to issue statements in at least condemning the racist abuse that came from their own supporters.
The people I feel really sorry for in all this are the genuine Millwall supporters who have worked tirelessly to make things better at The Den over the last eighteen months. You deserve better than what has happened on our two visits there recently and you certainly deserve better than your club’s attitude to this. They have to accept there is a problem.
But more than that my real sympathies are with Mo Camara, Tim Cahill and Paul Ifill, no player should have to be subjected to this.