• Championship

Brighton issue 'poogate' apology to Palace

ESPN staff
May 21, 2013
The 'poogate' incident occurred before the Championship semi-final second leg between Brighton and Palace © PA Photos
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Brighton & Hove Albion have issued a formal apology to Crystal Palace after the 'poogate' incident that occurred in the visitors' dressing room prior to the Seagulls' defeat in the Championship play-off semi-final second leg.

Brighton suffered a 2-0 loss to their rivals Palace at the Amex Stadium last week as Manchester United-bound Wilfred Zaha scored a brace to book a Championship play-off final for Palace against Watford.

Reports have since emerged that excrement was found in Palace's dressing room prior to the game, and Sussex police have reportedly told The Sun they are investigating the incident.

The Sun also reported that Brighton manager Gus Poyet - who, along with his coaching staff, was suspended by the club due to a matter said to be unrelated to Palace's complaint - wrote an email to staff demanding for the offender to resign.

In an email sent to season ticket holders, the club's chief executive Paul Barber has confirmed the matter is being taken seriously, with security to be tightened at the Amex.

He wrote: "It's clearly been a challenging week for our club: defeat at home to our biggest rivals in a play-off semi-final; the suspension from work and pending investigation of three members of our staff; and the revelation of an unsavoury incident that took place in our visitors' dressing room last Monday.

"I can assure you that we will address each of these challenges as you would expect and want us to: namely, professionally and with as much dignity as possible.

"We apologised to Crystal Palace as soon as the vandalism in their dressing room was discovered, and again more formally a few days after the match. As a result of what happened, please rest assured we have reviewed our internal procedures to guard against this ever happening again."

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