Imps chief executive Liam Scully has responded to comments made by chief constable Mark Roberts at a DCMS select committee on Tuesday 8 November while discussing safety at sporting events.
The chief constable, lead for football policing in the UK, stood by claims he had previously made that it was easier to hate chant, throw missiles and take cocaine while standing at football rather than being seated.
Liam said: “We disagree with Mark in the strongest possible terms and do not see any correlation between supporters who stand and the behaviours suggested by chief constable Roberts.
“It is absurd to directly link standing at football to taking Class A drugs such as cocaine or to chanting something offensive.
“There is gathering momentum amongst the policymakers and clubs to reintroduce standing at football. Here at Lincoln City we passionately believe that football supporters who wish to stand to watch the game should be given a safe and legal opportunity to do so.
“We see this unqualified statement by Mark Roberts as an attack to unduly influence the policymakers without any substantive evidence and it risks creating a dangerous narrative.
“Despite this, we remain encouraged by the successful rail seating pilots across Europe and here in the UK which are consistently providing an evidence base to prove that it is safe to stand while watching football.”