A football fan has triggered a furious row after posting a picture of two Muslim men praying at a Premier League stadium and labelling it a ‘disgrace’.

Stephen Dodd tweeted a picture of Asif Bodi and Abubakar Bhula worshipping on their knees in a stairwell of Liverpool’s Anfield ground.

He added the caption: ‘Muslims praying at half-time at the match yesterday #DISGRACE.’

Fury: Stephen Dodd took this photograph of Asif Bodi and Abubakar Bhula praying at Anfield last month

Mr Dodd’s post, made after Liverpool took on Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup last month, was met with widespread condemnation on social media, with users branding him a ‘bigot’ and ‘disgrace to humanity’.

The tweet was reported to police, who investigated but decided no criminal offence had taken place. They have referred the matter back to the club.

Last night, Liverpool promised to take ‘appropriate action’ against the supporter. It is not known if Mr Dodd is a season ticket holder, but he could have this revoked or be banned from future matches.

Yesterday Mr Bodi, 46, a solicitor from Preston, told the Daily Mail that it was not the first time he had prayed at a match.

Backlash: Dodd tried to defend himself by saying that he was a long-standing fan of Liverpool

‘It only takes a few minutes and this time it was during half-time that we needed to pray,’ the lawyer said.

‘We have a small window in which to pray. That day, the time came for prayer and the window would have closed before the game finished so we did it at half-time.

CALLS FOR PRAYER ROOMS AT FOOTBALL STADIUMS Campaigners have called for football clubs to install prayer rooms so Muslim fans can pray in peace and avoid the possibility of anti-Islamic abuse. Fiyaz Mughal, who runs Islamophobia hotline Tell MAMA, suggested that stadiums should have a 'multi-faith prayer room' in their stadiums. He told MailOnline: 'We are aware of incidents where practising Muslims have been abused since they have decided to quietly pray in public areas during half-time breaks. 'Given that people want to peacefully pray, we would suggest that clubs consider making a prayer room available for those fans who want to do so. 'The prayer room just has to be a space that is clean and where people can spend about 10 minutes praying and which is available through the match. 'It also can be listed as a multi-faith prayer room so that other faiths who want to use it, can do so.' Currently both Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers have prayer rooms at their stadiums for the use of fans. The rooms are non-demoninational and can be used by fans of any religion, but are more likely to be used by Muslims because they must pray at fixed times during the day. Newcastle United has also built a prayer room at its training ground because there are a number of Muslim footballers playing at the club. Advertisement

'Most people are absolutely fine with it and the stewards at Anfield are wonderful, but it only takes one or two people to react in the wrong way and you could have a nasty situation.’

Muslims are required to pray five times each day – between dawn and sunrise; at midday when the sun passes its highest point; in the late afternoon; just after sunset; and around nightfall.

Because prayer times are based on the movements of the sun they differ from place to place.

Liverpool’s FA Cup quarter-final against Blackburn kicked off at 4pm, meaning Mr Bodi and Mr Bhula had to say their afternoon prayers at half-time, as the window of opportunity closed before the end of the game.

Mr Bodi, whose eight-year-old son Ayman can also be seen in Mr Dodd’s photo, added: ‘My little boy said at the time “someone is taking a picture of us” and I thought maybe it was someone who hadn’t seen prayers before. I certainly didn’t expect to be called a disgrace for doing it.

‘But this guy wasn’t abusive to us and the support since has been very nice, I’m thankful.

‘I’ve supported Liverpool for 40 years and I used to be a season ticket holder. From what I understand this guy doesn’t live too far from the ground and is probably a boyhood fan, so I wouldn’t want him excluded from the ground or anything.

‘He should be given a talking to and made to go on an awareness course or educating.’ Mr Bhula, 37, who is also a solicitor, said he would happily meet with Mr Dodd to explain the importance of prayers in Islam.

He added: ‘Education is key to stopping things like this from happening. Maybe the man who took the photo has not come across Muslims before who have explained the significance of prayer. I would be quite happy to meet with him to explain why we pray and when it needs to be done.’

In a statement, Liverpool said discrimination would not be tolerated at the club and it would ‘take appropriate action against the individual involved’.

In 2013, a group of West Ham supporters were abused by onlooking fans because they were praying behind the main stand at Upton Park during a match.