Dear Marvin,

First of all congratulations at getting your name in the headlines. If you can’t do it with your footballling ability, why not play the race card, and what better place to play it than Millwall. You are not the first black nonentity to try to get famous by taking a cheap shot at us and I’m sure you won’t be the last, so enjoy your five minutes of fame while it lasts. The last one to give it a good try was one Raymond Enisuoh, some time sports Editor of the New Nation, a small low circulation “community” newspaper. Raymond came to watch Millwall play Brighton with his photographer then chose to write a piece of fiction posing as fact in an attempt to get noticed. Sadly his piece was picked up and sensationalised by the Sun. Amongst the things Raymond manufactured were:

- He heard Millwall black player Barry Hayles being called a fuc*ing animal. The truth was it was the Brighton player who fouled him who got called a fuc*ing animal.

- Monkey chants were heard when Hayles was substituted. The truth was that the noises were boos aimed at the Millwall manager for substituting Hayles who in fact was a big crowd favourite.

- He showed a picture of himself sitting in the crowd surrounded by empty seats with a caption suggesting this was because no-one wanted to sit near him because he was black. The truth was that there were more empty seats than full ones in the ground such that it would actually have been difficult to take a picture of anyone , black or white, who wasn’t surrounded by empty seats.

- Best of all, he claimed he saw and heard Millwall fans shouting Seig Heil while making Nazi salutes. The truth would be funny were it not so potentially serious – it was Brighton fans, not Millwall and they were in fact shouting “Seagulls” (Brighton’s nickname) while pointing at the team.

After numerous letters of complaint from BOTH sets of fans, Enisuoh was forced to retract his article and apologise. Needless to say however this retraction and apology did not merit more than a small paragraph in the minor pages of the Sun whereas the original article was a two page spread with banner headlines.

What does this prove? Quite simply, how easy it is to take a pot shot at us to get yourself some attention. Why let the facts get in the way of a good story. So what are the facts? Well for a start, Millwall have a “Zero tolerance to racism” policy that has seen the club ban more people than any other League member. It also proudly boasts that it has achieved more racism-related convictions than any other. The media is fully aware that this is not because Millwall have more racists than any other club, but because Millwall have done more than anyone else to combat racism. The club has won awards from the kick it out campaign for its anti racism stance and has been praised by community and religious leaders and local MPs alike for its community schemes. Millwall stewards are not known for their tolerance either, to the point where home supporters have made representations to the club about “over zealous” stewarding. Equally, the police are not our biggest fans so are typically at least as intolerant of misbehaviour as our stewards.

How likely is it then that you and your fellow Bolton subs were subjected to racist abuse while the police and stewards stood by and did nothing? About as likely as Chris Eagles being able to score a penalty. And if you really had “all sorts of things” said to you, why did you not immediately complain to the police – they were after all only yards away – rather than saving it all up for Twitter? Footballers are not known for thinking before they tweet – ask Ashley Cole – but if you had done so it might have occurred to you that taking a cheap shot at Millwall, a club which in fact has done more than any other to kick out racism, you are not helping the fight against genuine racism but are in fact harming it. If a small club like ours has to divert time and resources defending ourselves against some spurious FA investigation caused by your pathetic little tweet, those resources will not be available for our community projects and everything else we do to combat racism. As someone once said, when you tweet you run the risk of being a twat.

So what did happen at the Den? Well let me explain what goes on at football grounds up and down the country every single Saturday since you obviously are unaware: home supporters shout abuse at opposition players and away supporters shout abuse at home players. #Shockhorrorwhoknew, as they say in Twitterland. Whatever abuse you may have suffered was therefore to do with the colour of your shirt, not of your skin. Add to this the fact that the level of abuse normally shouted by your average football fan is not known for its high intellectual content – it is generally a generic insult such as c*nt, wan**r, tosser etc with the addition of an adjective most often based on where you are from (you northern bastard for instance) or some physical attribute. That physical attribute might be the colour of your hair ( eg you ginger twat), how tall or short you are (lanky tosser, short arsed wan**r), how fat or thin you are (lard arse, skinny tosser)- you get the picture don’t you. Depending on how much of a moron the person shouting the abuse is, and for no other reason than that it is as much a physical attribute as your hair colour, sometimes that adjective might be your skin colour, but the thing for you to remember is that it is just fairly juvenile name calling and has absolutely fook all to do with racism. I would not insult your intelligence by suggesting that there are no morons in the crowd at the New Den, but hopefully you will not insult mine by suggesting there are not at least as many in the Reebok – you just don’t hear them because you are a home player, and the abuse is about the team you play for and nothing whatsoever to do with your ethnicity. Does that mean Bolton should be investigated by the FA? The irony of being called for racism by someone from Bolton, a city not known for its racial tolerance, is hard to take.

It might help you if I explain some things about Millwall fans. We are honest, no-nonsense and passionate football fans. We dislike arrogant prima donnas, especially ones prone to simulation or getting in the referee’s ear to get our players booked – that’s why Chris Eagles (WHITE) got so much abuse on Saturday. We dislike players who con the referee by committing sly fouls as well as players who don’t work hard for the team – that’s why Kevin Davies (WHITE), who was a fat,lazy twat when he played for us, and who spent most of the afternoon cleverly fouling our centre back and getting away with it also got abuse on Saturday. We love players who will run themselves into the ground for the team and are prepared if necessary to die for the shirt – that’s why Jimmy Abdou (BLACK) was our player of the season last year and also why Danny Shittu (BLACK) was cheered off the pitch on Saturday. We also hate with a passion whining little nobodies who bad mouth us, so I can guarantee that the next time we play Bolton you personally will undoubtedly be booed, assuming you even make it into the team or the bench, but it will not be because you is black, it will be because you are a lying, attention seeking little twat.

Have a nice life.