EFL threaten legal action to end Millwall’s row with Sky Sports – with Championship club wanting to block broadcaster from showing Watford clash as dispute rumbles on over story on fans booing players who took the knee
- Sky Sports are due to broadcast Millwall’s December 29 game with Watford live
- But Millwall are moving to ban the broadcaster from The Den amid ongoing row
- Some fans booed players who took the knee before recent match with Derby
- Sky carried a website story ahead of QPR game saying Millwall players would still take a knee – but players instead held up an anti-discrimination banner
- The EFL could take out an injunction to force Millwall to allow Sky to televise the match – as they believe they must respect their £119million-a-year Sky contract
The EFL could take out an injunction to force Millwall into allowing Sky Sports to televise their clash with Watford this month, as the row between the club and the broadcaster escalated on Tuesday.
As Sportsmail revealed on Monday, Millwall want to block Sky from broadcasting Watford’s visit to the Den on December 29 due to unhappiness at their coverage of last week’s game against Queens Park Rangers, which was overshadowed by the racism row that erupted after the club’s previous fixture against Derby.
The EFL’s view is that Millwall must respect the League’s £119million-a-year contract with Sky by admitting their cameras into the ground and they are seeking an amicable solution, but failed to make progress in talks with both parties on Tuesday.
Millwall and QPR players took a stand against racism before their game last week following the controversy of some Millwall fans booing players taking the knee at their previous home game
A negative response from home supporters to Millwall players taking the knee ahead of their match against Derby the previous weekend caused huge controversy
The EFL’s position is supported by an arbitration panel ruling from 2015, which ordered Leeds to respect the previous broadcast contract and allow Sky to televise a Championship game against Derby, but they have not ruled out seeking a further court order if necessary.
Millwall are understood to want an apology from Sky for their coverage of the QPR game, in which players from both sides stood together in front of an anti-racism banner before kick-off. The home crowd had booed their own players for taking the knee when Derby visited three days earlier.
The club are unhappy at an article on Sky’s website published before the match, which claimed that Millwall’s players would continue taking the knee, and were angered by comments from Sky pundit Keith Andrews (below), who labelled a leaflet given to fans attending the game as ‘disgraceful and barbaric’.
Millwall, who wore Kick It Out logos on their shirts for the QPR game, have been angered by a story on Sky’s website and are moving to ban them for this month’s clash vs Watford
However, the EFL are threatening the possibility of taking out an injunction to force Millwall into allowing Sky Sports to televise their clash with Watford on December 29
The controversial leaflet read: ‘The eyes of the world are on this football club tonight — your club — and they want us to fail. Together as one, we will not let that happen.’
The match itself passed without incident, with Millwall fans applauding the pre-match anti-racism gesture and not reacting when QPR’s players took the knee, but the fallout has been considerable. Sky are understood to be standing their ground, which led to the EFL attempting to broker a solution.
Millwall want the EFL to ban Sky but would also accept an apology, which sources at the broadcaster insist will not be forthcoming.
An anti-racism message was shown on the screens at The Den ahead of the QPR match, but Millwall players did not take the knee