Following a widely-reported incident at Ewood Park yesterday during our Premier League game with Birmingham City, club officials including Chief Executive John Williams, Secretary Tom Finn and Stadium Safety Manager John Newsham today met with Lancashire Constabulary Chief Superintendent David Mallaby and Detective Inspector Simon Giles.
After hearing reports from the club's safety officers and studying available CCTV and video footage of an incident involving a spectator and the Birmingham City player, Dwight Yorke, Lancashire Constabulary has now launched a criminal investigation.
It goes without saying that we will give the Police - who now intend to interview all relevant parties - our full co-operation during the length of that investigation.
We cannot elaborate on the matter as it may prove to be prejudicial, but we would like to stress that this was an isolated incident and that we deeply regret any embarrassment caused to Dwight Yorke and Birmingham City Football Club.
Over the years, the club has worked tirelessly to eliminate racism, working in close conjunction with organisations like Kick It Out, and we want to be quite clear that racism will not be tolerated at Ewood Park.
We have kept the Premier League, the Football Association, the Professional Footballers Association and Birmingham City fully aware of progress and the general on-going situation.
