Bradford City joint chairman Mark Lawn has condemned a report on a US website which blames the Bradford City fire disaster on hooligans.

The article, which appears in The Sport Journal, published by the United States Sports Academy in Alabama, claims the fire, which claimed the lives of 56 people and left nearly 200 more injured on May 11, 1985, was started by an ignited Molotov cocktail – a home-made petrol bomb.

Mr Lawn has demanded the publishers correct the online version of the report, called Menaces to Management: A Developmental View of British Soccer Hooligans, 1961-1986, and said whoever was responsible for the mistake should be “ashamed”.

The offending part of the report, which investigates football hooligans in England in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, reads: “1985 was a bad year for professional soccer in Britain, because not only did the incident in Brussels occur (the Heysel Stadium disaster), but fire broke out at Bradford City Football Club causing many deaths, apparently caused by an ignited Molotov cocktail.”

Mr Lawn said last night: “It’s more than unbelievable. Whoever is responsible hasn’t looked it up and hasn’t done his research.

“They should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

“People died entirely innocently of a discarded cigarette, it was an accident.

“To publish that is beyond the pale.

“If he’s going to turn around and tar Bradford City with hooligans, does he not realise he’s going to upset the families?

“That is certainly a false statement – certainly from someone who was there and watched it happen, I am more than annoyed.

“If he wants to mention the fire and quote what actually happened then by all means do, but to connect it with hooligans is wrong and for him to actually do that is derogatory to the people who lost their lives.”

Contributing editor at The Sport Journal Dr Arthur Ogden, who oversees its content but did not write the article, said the information about the Molotov cocktail came from a book published in 1989.

He said: “We do invite those people who have concerns with this particular piece to write a response article.

“We will be glad to review it and publish it as a refutation.

“To do anything rather than ask people to write a refutation would be a censorship. It is something that needs investigation.”

Alan Carling, chairman of the Bradford City Supporters Trust, said: “I think it’s outrageous.

“As everyone knows it was a tragic accident and had nothing to do with any hooligan incident.

“I hope this can be corrected on the website as soon as possible.”

Investigations into the Valley Parade tragedy concluded that the most likely cause of the fire was a discarded cigarette in a polystyrene cup which was dropped on to rubbish that had been allowed to accumulate underneath the wooden stand.