Footage of violence in and outside the Boleyn Ground on Tuesday during the Hammers' victory over London rivals Millwall was beamed into the homes of millions across the globe.

It was a throwback to the 1970s and 1980s when English football became synonymous with hooliganism in many people's eyes.

Calls have been made to expel the club from the competition, or force them to play the next tie behind closed doors, and a Football Association probe could also see them heavily fined.

But Zola, who has just signed Italian striker Alessandro Diamanti from Livorno in a £6million deal, insisted the match, which also saw repeated pitch invasions, had to be put into context.

He said: "You have to be very balanced because if the punishment is very hard you will penalise all the genuine supporters. It would be unfair to those who support football in the right way.

"A good way would be to punish those who did cause problems. They should be hard on them but not the club.

"If people judge West Ham only for that then they are wrong because the club is well known for many other reasons.

"We are known for good things, like producing seven players that played for the national team the other day and supporters who follow us week in, week out and never cause problems.

"West Ham is not just the people who did that, we have a lot of wonderful supporters and I'm here representing those people.

"We have other supporters who are good ones and we are going to give them the satisfaction they deserve."

The Millwall game was the third in a series of misfortunes to befall the Hammers in the space of a few days.

First defender Calum Davenport's career was put in jeopardy when he was the victim of a knife attack and midfielder Jack Collison's father was killed in a road accident on the way to watch him play.

At least there was some good news as far as Davenport was concerned, Zola was able to report.

He said: "He is out of intensive care now so his situation is improving very much. Now the next step is to assess the damage but the most important thing is that he is now in a general ward."

Collison will play at Blackburn tomorrow despite the bereavement but Diamanti, who has signed a five-year deal, joined too late to feature.