Police investigation launched into Chelsea fan's 'monkey gesture' as club faces second 'race row' storm in a week



Chelsea supporter pictured apparently making a 'monkey' gesture at Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck

Chelsea has confirmed it is investigating the incident at last night's match

Society of Black Lawyers to lodge official complaint with Met this evening



Football fans on Twitter call for supporter to be banned from future games

Comes after referee Mark Clattenburg allegedly told Chelsea player John Mikel Obi to 'shut it, monkey' during Sunday's match against United

Chelsea dogged racism rows since captain John Terry was accused of using racist language towards QPR's Anton Ferdinand last year

The Met Police have launched an investigation following complaints over a Chelsea club supporter apparently making a 'monkey' gesture at a United striker during last night's match at Stamford Bridge.



The football fan clearly raises his hands up under his armpits to apparently imitate a monkey while appearing to chant animal sounds at Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck .



The gesture threatens to re-ignite an ongoing racism row that has engulfed the club in recent days after a player, John Mikel Obi, accused a referee of telling him to 'shut it, monkey'.



'One of the boys': Kirkham (circled) appears to make a gesture towards Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck during the game on Wednesday

Arrested: Chelsea fan Gavin Kirkham appears to make a 'monkey' gesture at Stamford Bridge

A spokesman for the Met police said: 'Police have received a complaint regarding alleged racist behaviour at Stamford Bridge last night.



'An investigation has been launched. There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.'

Peter Herbert at the Society of Black Lawyers, who reported Mark Clattenburg's alleged comments towards John Obi Mikel to police earlier this week, confirmed he would filing another complaint this evening about the latest incident.

He said: 'We will be reporting this incident to both the police and the FA. We feel the FA still has serious inadequacies in how it deals with hate crimes.'



The latest investigation into football related racism comes just hours after Chelsea confirmed it would be launching it's own probe into the incident.



Race row: Referee Mark Clattenburg allegedly made racist comments towards Chelsea's Nigerian and Spanish players John Mikel Obi and Juan Mata at Stamford Bridge on October 28

A spokesman said: 'Chelsea Football Club can confirm we are investigating an incident involving a member of the crowd at last night’s game against Manchester United.



'The club will be examining all available footage and asks anyone who can identify the individual to contact the club.



'Chelsea FC is committed to removing all forms of discrimination and if we have sufficient evidence we will take the strongest possible action, including supporting criminal prosecution. '

Football fans today took to Twitter to express their disgust at the actions of the Chelsea supporter with many calling for him to be banned from future games.



The chief executive of Show Racism the Rec Card, Paul Kearns, condemned the actions of the football fan and welcomed Chelsea's investigation into to the matter.

He said: 'We are incensed by this fan's actions as much of the football community appear to be. Twitter is alive with football fans condemning the actions of this football fan last night.

'We welcome the investigation launched by Chelsea and hope this matter will be dealt with in a timely manner.

'The club has issued a very strong statement that the strongest possible action will be taken. They have taken a zero tolerance policy to racism and we hope to see this policy continue.



'We continue to push for education to help eradicate this sort of behaviour by teaching what is and what is not acceptable.

'Fortunately these sort of incidents are now fairly isolated and it is only a very small minority who think it is still acceptable to act in this way.'



Founder of Football Unites, Racism Divides, Howard Holmes, added that he felt the club should be able to track down the fan.

He said: 'I wouldn't have thought it would be too difficult to identify the man.

'You can see exactly where he is sitting in the photo so Chelsea should be able to correlate the seat number with a name.

Anger: Football fans took to the Twitter today to express their disgust at the incident last night

Punishment: Other fans called for the Chelsea supporter to be banned from attending future games

Ongoing row: This is the second race-related row the club has faced this week

'So the club should be able to track him down and there are several forms of action they can take.



'The one consolation is that you can see 100 people in the shot and this man is the only one doing it.'



It comes after Chelsea last night pressed ahead with a formal complaint to the FA of inappropriate language used by race-row referee Mark Clattenburg .

Chelsea John Mikel Obi claims Clattenburg told him to ‘shut it, monkey’ during Chelsea’s 3-2 defeat against Manchester United on Sunday.

Player Juan Mata's allegations the ref called him ‘a Spanish t***’ was dropped on the advice of the club’s external legal team.

Chelsea believe they have enough evidence to convince an FA independent regulatory commission that they can meet the civil standard of proof, which is the balance of probabilities.

Clattenburg has denied using racist or inappropriate language in a submission to the FA and is backed by his two assistants and the fourth official.

Stirring the pot: Manchester United fans display a banner about Clattenburg, mocking the well-known slogan Chelsea fans attach to captain John Terry, who allegedly racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand

The picture of the Chelsea supporter will come as a fresh blow to a club which has been dogged by the spectre of racism since captain John Terry was accused of using racist language towards QPR's Anton Ferdinand last year.

Ex-England captain Terry was cleared John Terry has been cleared by Westminster Magistrates' Court in July, but was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 after being found guilty of racially abusing Ferdinand by a Football Association independent regulatory commission.

Leeds chairman Ken Bates, whose side have drawn Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup, has saluted the strides made towards multi-cultural harmony in football and described how Stamford Bridge was once a 'hotbed of racism'.

Writing in Leeds United’s match programme, ahead of their 3-0 win over Southampton, the former Chelsea chairman welcomed the way racism has come under the spotlight and insisted the problem bears no relation to 30 years ago, when it was the scourge of football.

Revealing how the National Front used to set up camp at Stamford Bridge on matchdays, the Leeds chairman wrote: ‘The ongoing debate about racism is good, because the issue is being raised and discussed, but I think it is fair to look back and see how much progress has been made during, in historical terms, a relatively short time.

Outspoken: Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has welcomed the ongoing debate about racism

‘In the 1980s, Stamford Bridge was a hotbed of racism. The National Front sold their magazines in the Fulham Road and used to wait in the pub opposite to learn the team selection. If they (the Chelsea players) were all-white, the National Fronters used to walk across and buy their tickets.

‘Our technical director Gwyn Williams introduced the first black kid, one Paul Canoville, a pacey young winger. His first experience was when Chelsea played at Selhurst Park. As a sub, he was warming up and had bananas thrown at him.

‘The following week, he made his debut at Stamford Bridge and got a lot of abuse. At the end of the game, I went on the pitch and walked off with my arm round his shoulder.

‘It is a lot different today, though it has been a long tortuous journey. Slowly, things started to change. Thirty years on, it is a different world. Today the furore is of a black verbal abuse – not to be condoned or tolerated in the least – but meanwhile let us appreciate the progress that has been made.’

Chelsea will travel to Leeds on December 19 for their quarter-final clash in a match that will be especially fiery given Neil Warnock's comments this week.

The Championship club's outspoken manager said he is 'disgusted' with the conduct of Chelsea's players and has backed referee Mark Clattenburg as the Stamford Bridge race row intensified.

Warnock has accused Chelsea of 'trying to kill' the referee and urged the FA to throw the book at players including John Obi Mikel, if their racism claims prove to be false.

The Leeds manager is no stranger to controversy - and you might think he would need to focus on his own club after a fan attacked Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland.

But the Warnock turned his attention to Chelsea's players.

'You know my relationship with referees but I have got to say I am disgusted with what’s gone on,' said Warnock. 'I’m on Mark Clattenburg’s side.'

The veteran boss, whose side have knocked two Premier League sides - Everton and Southampton - out of the Capital One Cup this season, continued: 'We ask referees to man-manage and that’s what he (Clattenburg) does. I’m sure he might have said a few things but are you telling me if Chelsea had won that game that there would have been one iota of a complaint?

'He’s not had the best of games but the Torres one was the one decision he got slightly wrong.



'Let’s wait and see when it all comes out. Hopefully, everything has been caught. I hope if it is proved wrong, that the players, whatever they alleged Mark to have said, get done as well.'

'I think he has made a mistake but they are trying to kill him and I don’t agree with that at all.'



