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Paphitis denies racial abuse claims

Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis has defended the Division One club against allegations that the club's fans racially abused Burnley defender Mohamed Camara on Saturday.

His response came after Clarets boss Stan Ternent accused the South East London club's fans of using racial abuse against Camara in the 2-0 defeat to The Lions.

The match came on the back of a recent and hotly-contested FA Cup clash at The New Den, when Millwall beat their Lancashire opponents to reach the quarter finals of the competition.

Paphitis, who has worked at trying to change the image of Millwall and its supporters, denied there was any abuse of a racial nature that was directed at Camara.

"There were no monkey chants. The crowd didn't like him but are you saying now that it is racist to boo black players?" said Paphitis.

"He would have been booed whether he was black, white or green.

"I'm fed up with this nonsense. We have worked so hard to fight the serious issue of racism.

"I'm a first-generation immigrant myself and we don't stand for it at Millwall."

Ternent had earlier claimed that the amount of stick Camara received on Saturday was more serious than mere booing, as Paphitis claims.

"Booing is not racist but monkey chants are. What happened was scandalous," said Ternent.

"They picked on Mo from the start having targeted him in our recent FA Cup game here.

"I know the chairman Theo Paphitis has worked hard to cut it out but there is no room for this in the game."

The Burnley manager's comments on Saturday prompted Paphitis to release a post-match statement on the club's website, claiming that Ternent had made no such allegation of racial abuse to him following the match.

The Lions chairman also stated his concern that the latest allegations will make the Division One club an easy target for unwarranted criticism.

"I can only reiterate how seriously Millwall Football Club take the issue of racism, and our record in tackling this problem is second to none," Paphitis said in his statement.

"If we can prove incidents of racism we will take the strongest actions.

"But it is far too easy for people who may have an axe to grind, or who see Millwall as an easy target, to undermine what is a very serious issue by jumping on a bandwagon of speculation and hearsay - thus damaging and undoing all the positive work we have done."