Brighton & Hove Albion have apologised to rivals Crystal Palace over an incident prior to the Championship semi-final second leg last week.
Excrement was found in the Palace dressing room at the Amex Stadium before the match, which the Eagles went on to win 2-0 courtesy of a Wilfried Zaha brace.
Manager Gus Poyet, assistant Mauricio Taricco and coach Charlie Oatway were suspended after the match for an unrelated incident but, while the club have refused to comment on that matter, they confirmed that they have apologised to Palace.
"It's clearly been a challenging week for our club. Defeat at home to our biggest rivals in a playoff 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," chief executive Paul Barber said in an email to season ticket holders.
"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."
The Seagulls are currently conducting an internal investigation over the suspension of their three members of staff.
Barney Corkhill
