Alex Neil criticised after seven-minute stoppage for alleged racist chants at Millwall v Swansea

Millwall manager Alex Neil criticised the decision to halt their Championship match against Swansea City at The Den on Tuesday after alleged racist chants were directed at Swansea substitute Ji-sung Eom, a stoppage that lasted seven minutes while referee Edward Duckworth sought to speak to Millwall’s safety officer. Anti-racism group Kick It Out urged football managers to "set the tone" in response to Neil's comments.

The interruption occurred midway through the second half after reports of discriminatory chanting, and the Metropolitan Police is investigating the incident. Referee Edward Duckworth held lengthy discussions with both sets of coaches and paused the match as he waited to pass a message to Millwall’s safety officer; an announcement at The Den afterwards said alleged chants of racism had been reported and that police were using CCTV to help identify any offenders.

After the game Neil told BBC Radio London: "It needs to get dealt with. [But] stopping the game doesn't deal with anything. All it does is kill the momentum." He added that he understood an incident had occurred but said he preferred the contest to resume.

Neil expanded on his frustration, saying: "The referee was wanting to speak to whoever the safety officer is, and then when he spoke to him, it [the game] restarted. "That's partly my frustration. I want to get the game restarted, I want to get the game played. "I understand there's other things that are going on, but you're not dealing with it down there, are you? It's going to get dealt with after the event anyway." He also said: "If we score, I probably don't feel this way, let's be honest."

After play resumed Millwall conceded a 90th-minute goal and lost 1-0. Kick It Out, which has campaigned for more than 30 years to eradicate racism from football, said it was disappointed to hear reports of racist abuse towards Eom and added: "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."

In a further statement the organisation 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." It also said: "In that moment, protocols are in place to help match and security officials respond appropriately. That ensures that players are protected and key details are captured so that accountability can follow, regardless of how long it takes."

Millwall issued a club statement saying it was "aware of an alleged, individual incident of discriminatory abuse towards a Swansea City player during the second half" and that "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." Swansea head coach Vitor Matos said: "The referee followed the protocol for these sort of situations, they did the right thing," and added: "Millwall did the right thing by announcing there is no place for this sort of thing. I'm happy with how it was handled, but really sad that it happened."

The Metropolitan Police investigation into the reported chanting remains ongoing, and both Kick It Out and club statements noted the use of established protocols and CCTV evidence so that individuals responsible can potentially be identified and held to account.