Millwall manager Gary Rowett full of praise for class conduct of Mahlon Romeo

Gary Rowett was full of praise for Mahlon Romeo’s conduct over the past few days – praising the Millwall defender for handling the “emotional strain”.

The right-back spoke to the South London Press on Saturday night and expressed his hurt and anger at the reaction of some home supporters, who booed when the Lions and opponents Derby ‘took the knee’ before kick off.

Millwall and QPR agreed on a different approach before tonight’s Championship match which saw the two groups of players join together with an anti-discrimination banner.

The South London club also replaced normal shirt sponsors Huski Chocolate with Kick It Out. Romeo held aloft his top at the final whistle to show off the logo.

Asked about the effects of the last few days, with the SE16 outfit coming under heavy criticism, Rowett told Sky Sports: “Let’s just take the likes of Mahlon, sat in a meeting yesterday until six o’clock in the evening. I’d imagine there was a lot of emotional strain which has been on him for the last three or four days.

“I’m proud of him, not only the way he spoke intelligently and passionately in that meeting – but also his response tonight. He’s contributed hugely to a far more positive message, a far more proactive message and a far more positive evening than we had on Saturday.

“He should be applauded for that.”

None of the Millwall players took a knee tonight. Romeo held his right arm aloft.

Asked if his side would ‘take a knee’ in the future, Rowett replied: “The knee was a gesture – and continues to be a gesture – that people choose or not choose to take.

“I don’t think the spotlight can solely be on that. We’ve made a stance as a club to try and be proactive and try to champion what we’re doing – to actually change things. Do people take a knee or don’t take a knee? Then we do nothing about it. We want to try and do something about it.

“Both clubs, but in particular our club, should be applauded for that stance.”

Asked what his emotions were after the pre-match passed without incident, Rowett replied: “My emotions are that we’ve maybe proved perhaps to a lot of people who turned up tonight and tuned in – maybe expecting and hoping for a negative evening against Millwall Football Club – is that the fans are behind our anti-discrimination message. And they are behind our Kick Out Racism message.

“That was really important tonight. That we at least tried to give everybody a choice to distinguish between the two – whether that is possible or not, I don’t know and it’s not for me to say.

“It was a very positive stance the fans made, behind that message and their own players. I’m proud of everybody at the club, because it’s been a difficult few days.

‘There has been a lot of mud chucked, and whether you can say rightly so in some ways, what we’ve tried to do is show the good work.

“Thankfully the people who have worked incredibly hard should come out with a lot of positivity and praise.”