Football bosses have rejected criticism of the conduct of Bradford City stewards in dealing with away fans last weekend.

A Morecambe fan complained that stewards in the away supporters enclosure were “aggressive” in insisting some spectators remained seated.

The fan, John Owen, claimed the stewards “could have caused a major incident by their unnecessary intervention and aggressive actions”.

Mr Owen said the stewards attempted to confiscate a supporter’s drum and “as a consequence, defensive actions of our supporters occurred.”

He said a skirmish took place and an offending supporter and a steward were “forcibly removed from the scene.”

Mr Owen said the supporters were standing at the back of the stand, causing no trouble and not blocking anybody’s view.

But Bradford City’s facilities manager, David Dowse, insisted the stewards had behaved correctly, and said the blame lay with the supporters.

He said the club was working in line with guidance from the Football League and the football licensing authorities to get people to sit down at matches. Stewards went in to both home supporters and the visitors to ask them to sit down and there were no issues with the home fans, he said.

Mr Dowse added that permission had been given for Morecambe fans to bring a drum into the ground, but when that happened they had to sign a code of conduct.

“The drummer was in contravention of the code, so we tried to confiscate the drum. They clearly didn’t like that and reacted to it. It was the supporters misbehaving. All they had to do was what they were asked,” he said.

Mr Dowse said the club would study CCTV footage and discuss whether there were any lessons to be learned.

He added: “We are not complacent about that. But I don’t believe the stewards were aggressive and they had to deal with people turning on them in an aggressive manner.”