CRYSTAL Palace Football Club have been issued an apology from arch-rivals Brighton & Hove Albion after reports of excrement were found in the Eagles' dressing room last Monday for their Championship play-off clash at the AMEX Stadium.
Seagulls manager Gus Poyet was left outraged by the actions of the perpetrator(s) and sent out an email to all Brighton employees to tell them what he thought of the disgusting act.
And in an email sent by Brighton's Chief Executive Paul Barber on Monday evening, he confirmed the club have now apologised to Palace.
"It's clearly been a challenging week for our club," Barber wrote in the email sent out to season-ticket holders.
"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.
"These events have led to some unwelcome headlines that we all would have preferred not to have been reading during the last week.
"Understandably, many supporters have asked me, both in person and in writing, about recent events - and, in particular, how and why they have happened. At this point, I'm unable to give you answers to all the questions you may have.
"What I can say to you is that every football club faces a variety of challenges at different points in its history.
"We are no exception and 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 as 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.
"On other matters, you will appreciate that I'm unable to comment further at this time."
Palace ended up winning 2-0 thanks to a brace from star winger Wilfried Zaha and are preparing to face Watford in the Championship play-off final next Monday.
Seagulls manager Gus Poyet was left outraged by the actions of the perpetrator(s) and sent out an email to all Brighton employees to tell them what he thought of the disgusting act.
And in an email sent by Brighton's Chief Executive Paul Barber on Monday evening, he confirmed the club have now apologised to Palace.
"It's clearly been a challenging week for our club," Barber wrote in the email sent out to season-ticket holders.
"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.
"These events have led to some unwelcome headlines that we all would have preferred not to have been reading during the last week.
"Understandably, many supporters have asked me, both in person and in writing, about recent events - and, in particular, how and why they have happened. At this point, I'm unable to give you answers to all the questions you may have.
"What I can say to you is that every football club faces a variety of challenges at different points in its history.
"We are no exception and 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 as 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.
"On other matters, you will appreciate that I'm unable to comment further at this time."
Palace ended up winning 2-0 thanks to a brace from star winger Wilfried Zaha and are preparing to face Watford in the Championship play-off final next Monday.
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