Westminster City Council distributed a children's anti-racism booklet to London primary schools that placed Millwall's club badge on an illustration of a Ku Klux Klan robe. The council has since apologised. Millwall is considering legal action.
The pamphlet tells the story of Paul Canoville, the Black Chelsea player who suffered racial abuse in the early 1980s. One page depicts a KKK figure — white robe, Millwall crest on the chest — alongside a Canoville quote about abuse he suffered at Millwall. The Paul Canoville Foundation confirmed it wasn't consulted on any of the contents, though it noted the illustration references a real incident: Canoville being subjected to abuse by individuals in KKK-style hoods during a Chelsea Reserves vs Millwall Reserves match.
Context matters. Depicting the incident is one thing. Stamping the club's modern badge on the robe and sending it into schools is another entirely.
A club that's spent 30 years trying to change its image
Millwall's hooligan reputation was earned in the worst decades of English football violence — the 1970s and 80s. The chant "No one likes us, we don't care" became their dark calling card. But the club set up an anti-discrimination body in 1994, the first of its kind at an English football club, and has maintained working relationships with Kick It Out and Show Racism the Red Card ever since.
Labour MP Neil Coyle, who represents Bermondsey and Old Southwark, called the use of Millwall's branding "an insult to southeast London" given the club's community work. The Millwall Supporters' Club said it was "outraged" and that the imagery represents a "deeply damaging misrepresentation."
The club itself called the image "false and damaging" and said it creates legal exposure for Westminster City Council — who have pulled the booklet and issued an apology. Millwall says it is still weighing legal options.
None of this is entirely clean, either. The FA's disciplinary commission recently fined Millwall £45,000 after supporters chanted offensive material about disabilities during a September 2025 League Cup tie at Crystal Palace — the third such breach in three years. The commission called the chants "abhorrent." So Millwall isn't arriving at this story with a spotless record.
Promotion race adds pressure to an already tense week
All of this lands at the worst possible moment. Millwall are neck-and-neck with Ipswich for the second automatic promotion spot in the Championship — behind champions Coventry — and a first-ever promotion to the Premier League is genuinely within reach. The club hasn't played in the top flight since the 1989-90 season.
The two clubs are level on points, but Ipswich hold the advantage on goal difference and have three games remaining to Millwall's two. Millwall travel to already-relegated Leicester on Friday night. Ipswich host West Brom on Saturday. Every point, every goal now carries serious weight — and Millwall's promotion odds reflect just how tight this has become.
The booklet is withdrawn. The apology is issued. Whether the legal threat goes anywhere remains an open question — but the image has already circulated, and in football, images tend to stick.
