Millwall’s Alex Neil criticised for his comments on stoppage for alleged racism

The Millwall head coach, Alex Neil, has been criticised by the anti-racism campaign group Kick It Out after complaining that a stoppage in play over alleged racist abuse “killed the momentum” in Tuesday’s home defeat to Swansea City. The Championship fixture was suspended for around seven minutes after reports of abusive chants being aimed at the Swansea midfielder Eom Ji-sung. The referee, Edward Duckworth, halted the match in the 65th minute before speaking with both teams’ managers, the fourth official and a safety officer.

After the game, Neil told BBC Radio London: “I understand, obviously, there’s been an incident. That’s not something I’m going to get involved in, that’ll be for the authorities to deal with. But the fact that it stops the game, I just don’t see the point.

That’s partly my frustration. I want to get the game restarted, I want to get the game played. It needs to get dealt with … [but] stopping the game doesn’t deal with anything.

All it does is kill the momentum.” In a statement published on social media, Kick It Out said: “Player welfare should always take precedence over the momentum or flow of a match, and it’s essential that managers and all leaders recognise this and set the tone with their language so that everyone can stand up to discrimination. Both clubs have condemned the incident, and it’s positive that Millwall and match officials followed the right protocols so that action can be taken to identify any individual responsible.” The statement added: “Protocols are in place to help match and security officials respond appropriately. That ensures players are protected and key details are captured so that accountability can follow, regardless of how long it takes.” Millwall have not responded to the Kick it Out statement, but said on Tuesday: “The club operates a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discriminatory abuse.

Any individual found to have engaged in such behaviour will face the strongest possible action. I’m happy with how it was handled, but really sad that it happened.”