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Millwall Football Club strongly resents blame being laid at its door for the violent scenes in the visitors' stand during the Carling Cup tie against Liverpool at The Den on Tuesday night.
Lions chairman Theo Paphitis said: "The facts of the matter are that Liverpool fans clashed with riot police in the lower tier of the North Stand and appeared to be attempting to get at Millwall supporters. Seventy two seats were ripped up in the process.
The suggestion is that they were provoked by chanting referring to the Hillsborough disaster, but there was no chanting of this nature which was clearly audible to the majority of people in the ground. Naturally, if any such chanting did occur it is deplorable and in the worst possible taste, in the same way as that relating to the Munich disaster directed at Manchester United supporters by Liverpool fans, amongst others, in the past.
Having studied CCTV footage, our belief is that the catalyst for the trouble was a Liverpool fan who had bought a ticket in the West Stand from a tout, launching an attack on a Millwall supporter which led to a fracas. The Liverpool fans behind the goal then began throwing missiles and ripping up seats.
We have no desire to deflect blame on to Liverpool who are a great club with a majority of magnificent supporters. However, we are not prepared to be the scapegoats once again after all the work we have undertaken to try to put our own house in order."