Coordinates | 52°29′″N23°8′″N |
---|---|
clubname | Millwall |
fullname | Millwall Football Club |
nickname | The Lions, formerly The Dockers (1885–1910) |
founded | , as Millwall Rovers (to 1889), Millwall Athletic (1890–1910) |
ground | The DenSouth Bermondsey, London |
capacity | 20,146 |
owntitle | Owner |
owner | Millwall Holdings PLC () |
chrtitle | Chairman |
chairman | John Berylson |
mgrtitle | Manager |
manager | Kenny Jackett |
league | Football League Championship |
season | 2010–11 |
position | Football League Championship, 9th |
topscorer | Neil Harris (138) |
website | http://www.millwallfc.co.uk |
current | 2011–12 Millwall F.C. season |
pattern la1 | _whiteborder |
pattern b1 | _mill10h |
pattern ra1 | _whiteborder |
pattern so1 | _3_stripes_white |
leftarm1 | 002060 |
body1 | 002060 |
rightarm1 | 002060 |
shorts1 | 002060 |
socks1 | 002060 |
pattern la2 | _navyborder |
pattern b2 | _vnecknavy |
pattern ra2 | _navyborder |
leftarm2 | FFFFFF |
body2 | FFFFFF |
rightarm2 | FFFFFF |
shorts2 | FFFFFF |
socks2 | FFFFFF |
socks3 | }} |
Millwall Football Club () is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the Millwall area of the Isle of Dogs in 1910. From then until 1993 the club played at The Den, a now-defunct stadium in New Cross, before moving to its current home stadium in South Bermondsey, also called The Den.
Millwall's traditional kit consists of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks. The current strip pays homage to the Scottish roots of the club and the first ever kit worn by Millwall Rovers in 1885, which the team played in until 1936; it is a darker blue on the shirts, shorts and socks, similar to the Scotland national team. The traditional club crest is a rampant lion, a reference to the team's nickname The Lions.
In 2004, the team reached the final of the FA Cup, losing 3–0 to Manchester United. As United had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League that season, Millwall qualified for the UEFA Cup the following season and played in Europe for the first time in their history. The club has also reached FA Cup semi-finals on another three occasions, in 1900, 1903 and 1937.
The club's highest final league position is tenth place in the First Division of 1988–89. Based on all results during the club's 84 seasons in the Football League from 1920–21 to 2010–11, Millwall are ranked as the fortieth most successful club in English football.
Millwall is well-known for a long-standing rivalry with West Ham United. The local derby between the two sides has been contested almost 100 times since 1899. Millwall's supporters are synonymous with their terrace chant "no one likes us, we don't care".
Millwall Rovers was formed by the workers of J.T. Morton in the Millwall area of the Isle of Dogs in London's East End in 1885. J.T. Morton was first founded in Aberdeen in 1849 to supply sailing ships with food. The company opened their first English cannery and food processing plant at Millwall docks in 1872 and attracted a workforce from across the country, including the east coast of Scotland, primarily Dundee.
The club secretary was seventeen-year-old Jasper Sexton, the son of the landlord of The Islander pub in Tooke Street where Millwall held their meetings. Millwall Rovers' first fixture was on 3 October 1885 against Fillebrook, a team that played in Leytonstone. The newly-formed team were beaten 5–0.
In November 1886, the East End Football Association was formed, and with it came a Senior Cup Competition. Millwall made it to the final against London Caledonians, which was played at Leyton Cricket Ground. The match finished 2–2 and the teams shared the cup for six months each. Millwall went on to win the East London Senior Cup at the first attempt. The team also won it for the following two years and the trophy became their property.
In April 1889, a resolution was passed for Millwall to drop 'Rovers' from their name and they were now playing under the name Millwall Athletic. They would become founding members of the Southern Football League which they won for the first two years of its existence and were runners-up in its third. Millwall Athletic were also champions of the Western Football League in 1908 and 1909.
Millwall moved to a new stadium, named The Den, in New Cross in 1910. The club had previously occupied four different grounds in the twenty-five years since their formation; limited expansion space on the Isle Of Dogs meant The Lions had to move to boost support and attendances. The estimated cost of The Den was £10,000. The first match played at the new ground was on 22 October 1910 against reigning Southern League champions Brighton & Hove Albion, who spoiled the celebrations by winning 1–0.
Millwall became known as a hard-fighting Cup team and competed in various memorable matches, notably defeating three-time league winners and reigning champions Huddersfield Town 3–1 in the third round of the 1926–27 FA Cup. Matches against Sunderland and Derby County saw packed crowds of 48,000-plus in the 1930s and 1940s. A 1936–37 FA Cup fifth round game against Derby still stands as Millwall's record attendance of 48,762. One of the biggest Cup upsets Millwall have caused came in the fourth round of the 1956–57 FA Cup on 26 January 1957, when The Lions beat Newcastle United 2–1 in front of a crowd of 45,646 and at a time when the New Cross team were fighting for Third Division survival. Millwall were the tenth best supported team in England in the pre-war years, despite occupying the Third Division for the majority of the 1930s. Only one other club boasted a superior bank balance in the land, and after signing international players and proposing plans to improve The Den, The Lions were pushing heavily for promotion to the First Division toward the end of the decade. One week into the 1939–40 season, World War II broke out and Millwall were robbed of their aim.
On 7 April 1945, Millwall appeared in a Southern FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium against Chelsea, but because it was an wartime cup final it is not acknowledged in the record books. With the war in Europe in its last days, there was a relaxation on the number of spectators allowed to attend games. The attendance was 90,000, the largest crowd Millwall have ever played in front of, which included King George VI, who the team were introduced to before kick-off.
With the loss of so many young men during the Second World War it was difficult for all clubs to retain their former status. This was especially true for Millwall, who appeared to suffer more than most. From being one of the country's biggest clubs before the war, Millwall were reduced to one of its smallest afterwards. The Den sustained severe bomb damage on 19 April 1943 during the Blitz, and one week later a fire, determined to have been caused by a discarded cigarette, also destroyed an entire stand. The club accepted offers from neighbours Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace and West Ham United to stage games. On 24 February 1944, Millwall returned to The Den, to play in an all-standing stadium. This was achieved, in part, with considerable volunteer labour by Lions fans.
In the 1958–59 season, Millwall became a founding member of Division Four. The team's form was poor during the late 1950s and early 1960s, playing five seasons in the fourth tier of English football for the first time in their history. In the mid-1960s, however, things began to change. During this time, they discovered a number of useful players, such as winger Barry Rowan and goalkeeper Alex Stepney.
By going unbeaten at home in the 1971–72 Division Two season, Millwall became the only club to go through an entire season without losing a match at home in four different divisions (1927–28 Division Three South, 1964–65 Division Four, 1965–66 Division Three and 1971–72 Division Two). In 1974, Millwall hosted the first game to be played on a Sunday against Fulham.
George Graham managed Millwall from 1983 to 1986, and during that time he guided the club to promotion to the Second Division in the 1984–85 season, going unbeaten at home again in Division Three, winning 18 games and drawing five. Millwall also won the Football League Group Cup, beating Lincoln City 3–2 in the final.
Millwall also reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in the 1984–85 promotion campaign. They were beaten 1–0 by First Division Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. The match is remembered for all the wrong reasons, though, after hooligans rioted at the game. Eighty-one people (including thirty-one police officers) were injured in the disturbances.
Millwall had a good start to their 1988–89 First Division campaign, topping the league on 1 October 1988 having played six games (winning four and drawing two) and rarely slipping out of the top five before Christmas. This was mainly due to Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham who scored ninety-nine goals between them in three seasons playing together. Millwall's first top division season ended with a tenth place finish, which was the lowest place occupied by the club all season. The following season, they briefly led the league for one night in September 1989 after beating Coventry City 4–1, but won only two more games all season and were relegated in bottom place at the end of the 1989–90 campaign.
Just before relegation was confirmed, Docherty was sacked and replaced by ex-Middlesbrough manager Bruce Rioch. Striker Teddy Sheringham, who later played for the England national team and was the highest-scoring player throughout the Football League in 1990–91, was sold to Nottingham Forest for £2 million after Millwall's 6–2 defeat to Brighton in the Second Division play-offs.
Rioch left Millwall in 1992 to be succeeded by Irish defender Mick McCarthy. McCarthy guided Millwall to third place in the new Division One at the end of the 1993–94 season. This was their first season at a new ground, at first known as The New Den (to distinguish it from its predecessor) but now called simply The Den, which was opened by the Labour party leader John Smith on 4 August 1993. The new ground was the first all-seater stadium to be built after the Taylor report on the Hillsborough disaster. The Lions knocked Arsenal out of the 1994–95 FA Cup in a third-round replay, beating them 2–0 at Highbury, before losing 5–1 to Derby County in the play-off semi-finals that season. McCarthy resigned to take charge of the Republic of Ireland national team on 5 February 1996, shortly after Millwall had been knocked off the top of the Division One table by Sunderland following a 6–0 defeat.
The club came out of administration, and new chairman Theo Paphitis appointed ex-West Ham United manager Billy Bonds as manager. This was not a successful season (mainly due to a series of player injuries), with the club hovering close to relegation to the Third Division. Bonds was sacked and replaced by Keith "Rhino" Stevens, with Alan "Macca" McLeary as his assistant. McLeary was later promoted to the role of joint-manager alongside Stevens.
Stevens and McLeary led Millwall to their first ever official appearance at Wembley Stadium (their previous visit in the 1945 War Time cup final is not recognised in the history books). The Lions reached the 1999 Football League Trophy Final with a golden goal win against Gillingham in the semi-finals, and a 2–1 aggregate victory over Walsall in the regional final. They faced Wigan Athletic in the final but, while playing in front of 49,000 of their own fans, lost 1—0 by to an injury-time goal. Millwall also lost 1–0 on aggregate to Wigan in the Second Division play-off semi-finals the following year.
In 2003, Dennis Wise, ex-Chelsea and England player, became caretaker, and subsequently permanent player-manager, of the club. In his first season in charge Wise led the club to the first FA Cup Final in their history (excluding the 1945 War Cup final). When Millwall took to the field at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff they were only the second team from outside the top flight to play in the Cup final since 1982, and were the first team from outside the Premier League to reach the final since the foundation of the top tier in 1992. The club was also missing no less than sixteen players from their squad due to suspension or injury. They played the Cup final on 22 May 2004, losing 3–0 to Manchester United. As United had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League, Millwall were assured of playing in the UEFA Cup. Midfielder Curtis Weston, substituted for Wise with one minute of normal time remaining, became the youngest Cup final player in history at 17 years 119 days, beating the 125-year-old record of James F. M. Prinsep.
In the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, Millwall lost 4–2 on aggregate in the first round proper to Hungarian champions Ferencváros, with Wise scoring both of Millwall's goals.
In 2005, Theo Paphitis announced that he was stepping down as chairman of the club with Jeff Burnige to replace him from May 2005. At the end of the 2004–05 season, manager Dennis Wise announced that he was leaving as he was unable to form a working relationship with the new chairman. Steve Claridge (a Millwall striker from 2001–03) was announced as the new player-manager of Millwall. However, when Burnige then stepped down just two months after taking up the post, it was announced on 27 July that Claridge had been sacked after 36 days, without ever taking charge of the team in a competitive match. On 21 December, with the club bottom of the Championship, he became the club's Director of Football and was replaced as manager by 32-year-old player Dave Tuttle, on a short-term contract until the end of the season. Tuttle had no prior experience in football management. In February 2006, Lee left the club altogether. Millwall experienced a very difficult season, possibly as a consequence of having had four managers in 2005. Their relegation to League One was confirmed on 17 April 2006 with a 2–0 loss against Southampton and in the closed season Nigel Spackman was appointed as manager. In September 2006, Theo Paphitis (chairman from 1997 to 2005) ended his nine-year association with the club after a year-long spell as a non-executive director.
On 19 March 2007, Willie Donachie signed a two-year contract following some excellent progress which had seen the club climb to 11th place in the league. Before Donachie took charge, Millwall had taken only six points from their first ten games. However, the start of the 2007–08 season saw Millwall bottom of the table at the beginning of October. Donachie was sacked on 8 October, with Richard Shaw and Colin West becoming caretaker managers.
In March 2007, Chestnut Hill Ventures, led by American John Berylson, which have interests in business and financial services, retail, property and sport, invested £5 million into the club. The continued investment of Berylson, who has since become the club's major shareholder and chairman, has provided a successful time on and off the pitch for The Lions. The appointment of Kenny Jackett as manager of Millwall on 6 November 2007, proving key to the success.
Over the course of the next two seasons Jackett led Millwall to two top six finishes in League One, in fifth and third place respectively. He has won the League One Manager of the Month award three times while in charge of Millwall.
Several of Jackett's key signings helped propel Millwall toward the play-offs, and eventual promotion. After a play-off final defeat in the 2008–09 season against Scunthorpe United and losing out on automatic promotion on the last day of the 2009–10 season to Leeds United by one point, Millwall made it back to Wembley, finally breaking the play-off hoodoo run of five successive losses with a 1—0 win in the 2010 League One play-off final against Swindon Town, securing a return to the Football League Championship after a four-year absence.
Millwall's first game back in the Championship was a 3–0 away win at Bristol City. The game had been much hyped due to City's signing of then-England goalkeeper David James. Only days after the defeat, Steve Coppell resigned as City manager. The Lions celebrated the 125th anniversary of the club on 2 October 2010, which was the closest home game date to the first fixture Millwall ever played against Fillebrook on 3 October 1885. Millwall drew 1–1 with Burnley and wore a special one-off kit for the game, made by manufacturers Macron, which bore the names of every footballer who had played for the club.
In 1936 Millwall changed to a lighter navy blue and played in this colour for the best part of 74 years, with the exception of 1968–75 and 1999–2001, in which Millwall played in an all-white strip. Their kit for the 2010–11 season celebrated the 125th anniversary of the club, with Millwall adopting the darker Dundee blue of their first strip. The change in colour proved popular with supporters, with the kit selling out straight away.
The club crest has been a rampant lion since 1936. There have been many variations of the lion; the first was a single red lion, often mistakenly said to be chosen because of the club's Scottish roots. The Red Lion was a popular pub name and the red leaping lion often displayed outside such named pubs is remarkably similar to the first Millwall badge.
From 1956 to 1974 Millwall's crest was two leaping red lions facing each other. Former chairman Theo Paphitis brought back the badge in 1999, where it was used for a further eight years. The current crest is a roaring and leaping lion, which first appeared on a Millwall kit in 1979. It remained until 1999 and was re-introduced again in 2007.
The team nickname is The Lions, previously The Dockers. They changed the nickname after moving away from the dockyards of east London and adopted The Lions for their acts of giant-killing in their FA Cup run of 1900, when they reached the semi-final. The club adopted a lion emblem and the motto: We Fear No Foe Where E'er We Go. The emblem, however, was not added to players' shirts until 1936. The club mascot is a giant lion called Zampa, so named after Zampa Road, The Den's postal address.
The original nickname The Dockers arose from the job of many of the club's supporters. In 2011, Millwall officially named the east stand of The Den as the 'Dockers Stand' in honour of the club's former nickname. Millwall were the only club up to the early 1960s allowed to kick-off home games at 3.15 pm, instead of 3 pm, specifically to allow the dockers and deal porters to finish their morning shift and arrive at the game in time.
In the 2000s the club started to once again recognise its unique link with London's docks by introducing Docker Days, and archiving the club's dock roots in the Millwall FC Museum. Docker Days bring together past successful Millwall teams who parade on the pitch at half-time. Supporters who were dockers are allowed to attend the game for free.
Year !!Kit manufacturer!!Main shirt sponsor!!Secondary sponsor | ||
1975–80 | Bukta | None |
1980–83 | Osca | |
1983–85 | London Docklands Development Corporation>LDDC | |
1985–86 | ||
1986–87 | Spall | |
1987–89 | Lewisham Council | |
1989–90 | Millwall | |
1990–91 | Lewisham Council | |
1991–92 | Fairview Homes PLC | |
1992–93 | Bukta | |
1993–94 | Captain Morgan | |
1994–96 | Asics | |
1996–97 | South London Press | |
1997–99 | L!VE TV | |
1999–01 | Strikeforce | |
2001–03 | 24 Seven | |
2003–04 | Ryman | |
2004–05 | Beko | |
2005–06 | rowspan=2 | |
2006–07 | Oppida | |
2007–08 | Bukta | |
2008–10 | CYC | |
2010–11 | rowspan=2Macron || Matchbet | |
2011– | Racing+ |
They moved to their third home, The Athletic Ground, on 6 September 1890. This was their first purpose-built ground, with a grandstand that seated 600 people and an overall capacity of between 10,000 and 15,000. The club was forced to move on again though, this time by the Millwall Dock Company who wanted to use it as a timber yard. They relocated in 1901 to a location near their second home, which became known as North Greenwich. They remained an east London club for a further nine years, with the last game played on the Isle of Dogs on 8 October 1910 against Portsmouth, which Millwall won 3–1.
On 22 October 1910, Millwall crossed the river to South London, moving to Cold Blow Lane in New Cross. The fifth ground was called The Den, built at a cost of £10,000 by noted football ground architect Archibald Leitch. The first game played there was against Brighton & Hove Albion, which the away team won 1–0. Millwall remained there for 83 years, until moving to their sixth and current ground, at first known as The New Den but now called simply The Den, on 4 August 1993. A Sporting Lisbon team, managed by Bobby Robson helped open the ground by playing a friendly, which The Lions lost 2–1.
Other songs that have been regularly played at The Den over the years in the build-up to a game include London Calling by The Clash, Town Called Malice by The Jam and House of Fun by Madness, which features the lyric "welcome to the lion's den...". Status Quo's cover version of Rockin' All Over the World is played after most home wins.
The stigma of violence attached to Millwall can be dated back over the course of the last 100 years. Millwall played local rivals West Ham United at Upton Park on 17 September 1906 in a Western League game. Both sets of supporters were primarily made up of dockers, who lived and worked in the same locality in east London. They were rivals working for opposing firms, vying for the same contracts. The local newspaper, East Ham Echo, reported that "From the very first kick of the ball it was seen likely to be some trouble, but the storm burst when Dean and Jarvis came into collision (Millwall had two players sent off during the match). This aroused considerable excitement among the spectators. The crowds on the bank having caught the fever, free fights were plentiful."
In the 1920s Millwall's ground was closed for two weeks after a Newport County goalkeeper, who had been hit with missiles, jumped into the crowd to confront the home supporters and was knocked unconscious. The ground was again closed for two weeks in 1934, following crowd disturbances close to The Den after the visit of Bradford (Park Avenue). It was closed again in 1947 after pitch invasions and in 1950 the club was fined after a referee and linesman were ambushed outside the ground.
In the 1960s, hooliganism started to become more widely reported. On 6 November 1965 Millwall beat Brentford 2–1 at Griffin Park and during the game a hand grenade was thrown on to the pitch from the Millwall end. Brentford goalkeeper Chic Brodie picked it up, inspected it and threw it into his goal. It was later retrieved by police and determined to be a harmless dummy. There was fighting inside and outside the ground during the game between both sets of supporters, with one Millwall fan sustaining a broken jaw. The Sun newspaper ran the sensationalist grenade-related headline "Soccer Marches to War!"
There was trouble at Loftus Road between Queens Park Rangers and Millwall on 26 March 1966, with both sides near the top of the table pushing for promotion to Division Two. A coin was thrown, which struck Millwall player Len Julians on the head, drawing blood. QPR won the game 6–1, and each goal was greeted by pitch invasions by fans. The stadium announcer said the game would be abandoned if supporters did not keep off the pitch, to which Millwall fans ran on in an attempt to get the game abandoned after each goal. When Millwall's unbeaten home record of 59 games came to an end against Plymouth Argyle in 1967, the away coach was attacked and windows were smashed. In the same year referee Norman Burtenshaw was attacked and the FA ordered the club to erect fences around The Den's terracing.
On 11 March 1978 a riot broke out at The Den in a game between Millwall and Ipswich Town in the FA Cup, with the home team losing the game 6–1. Fighting began on the terraces and spilled on to the pitch; dozens of fans were injured, with hooligans turning on their own supporters and innocent fans were left bloodied. Bobby Robson, then manager of Ipswich, had said of Millwall fans after the scenes at The Den, "They [the police] should have turned the flamethrowers on them". In 1982 Millwall club chairman Alan Thorne threatened to close the club because of violence sparked by losing in the FA Cup to non-league side Slough Town.
The 1985 Kenilworth Road riot, after an FA Cup sixth-round match between Luton Town and Millwall on 13 March 1985, became one of the worst and widely reported incidents of football hooliganism to date. Just two months before the Heysel Stadium disaster, approximately 20,000 people packed into a ground that usually only held half that number. Numerous pitch invasions, fighting in the stands and missile throwing occurred, of which one such object hit Luton goalkeeper Les Sealey. It led to a ban on away supporters by Luton from their Kenilworth Road ground for four years. Luton were asked by Millwall to make the Wednesday night match all-ticket, but this was ignored. As a result, rival hooligan firms gained access to the stadium. Along with arrests from Millwall's hooligans and Luton's own firm the MIGs, 37 fans arrested after the violence were identified as being from Chelsea's Headhunters firm and West Ham United's Inter City Firm. The FA commissioned an inquiry which concluded that it was "not satisfied that Millwall F.C. took all reasonable precautions in accordance with the requirements of FA Rule 31(A)(II)." A £7,500 fine was levied against Millwall, though this was withdrawn on appeal. The penalty that Millwall faced was perhaps that the club's name was now "synonymous with everything that was bad in football and society".
In May 2002, hooligans attaching themselves to Millwall were involved in a riot away from the ground, after losing a play-off game against Birmingham City, which was described by the BBC as one of the worst cases of civil disorder seen in Great Britain in recent times. A police spokeswoman said that 47 police officers and 24 police horses were injured, and the Metropolitan Police considered suing Millwall after the events.
The then chairman Theo Paphitis stated that Millwall could not be blamed for the actions of a mindless minority who attach themselves to the club. He later introduced a membership scheme whereby only fans who would be prepared to join and carry membership cards would be allowed into The Den. Scotland Yard withdrew its threat to sue, stating: "In light of the efforts made and a donation to a charity helping injured police officers, the Metropolitan Police Service has decided not to pursue legal action against Millwall F.C. in relation to the disorder".
Legal experts said it would have been difficult to hold a football club responsible for something that occurred away from its ground and involved people who did not attend the match. The scheme introduced by Paphitis now only applies to perceived high-risk away games. Many fans blame the scheme for diminishing Millwall's support at away games, such as at Leeds United where fans are issued with vouchers which are then exchanged for tickets at a designated point of West Yorkshire Police's choosing on the day of the game. Also, early kick-off times arranged by the police result in only a few hundred fans making the trip.
On 26 October 2004, some fans in the Millwall stand taunted visiting Liverpool supporters about the Hillsborough disaster in a Football League Cup tie. This resulted in some Liverpool fans throwing coins and ripped-out seats, even knocking over some of their own disabled fans in the process. Two Liverpool fans and two Millwall fans were arrested at the game, which was watched by a crowd of nearly 18,000 – the biggest at The Den since the 2001–02 season.
In January 2009, some 500 Millwall fans identified as "high risk" gained access to an FA Cup match away at Hull City, resulting in seats, coins and plastic bottles being thrown at home supporters. Conflicting reports later emerged in the media as to whether items were in fact initially thrown by Hull supporters following tongue-in-cheek chanting and jeering by Millwall fans of Jimmy Bullard (an ex-West Ham player) just prior to the fixture. Around 50 seats were pulled out, and Hull planned to bill Millwall for the damages.
On 25 August 2009, Millwall played West Ham United in the Football League Cup, losing 3–1 after extra time. Clashes between Millwall and West Ham fans outside Upton Park resulted in the stabbing of one Millwall supporter. The game saw hundreds of West Ham fans invade the pitch on three occasions, forcing the game to be temporarily suspended once. Millwall supporters had earlier clashed with West Ham supporters and police; the police later said the violence, because of its scale, was organised beforehand.
In the aftermath of the Upton Park disorder, Millwall were handed three charges by the FA and later cleared of all of them; West Ham received four charges and were found guilty on two counts of violent, threatening, obscene and provocative behaviour and entering the field of play. West Ham were fined £115,000 which was seen as an insult by Millwall and its fans, which staunchly defended the action of its own fans and the club's inability to do any more than it possibly could at a rival's ground.
Former club chairman Reg Burr once commented: "Millwall are a convenient coat peg for football to hang its social ills on", an example being the reporting of convicted murderer Gavin Grant. Although he had played for eight different clubs, playing his fewest (only four games) for Millwall and was signed to Bradford City at the time, BBC News used the headline, "Former Millwall striker Gavin Grant guilty of murder".
After a game against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in September 2010, manager Kenny Jackett said Millwall's hooligan problems are to a certain extent exaggerated by media sensationalism. "I see it as unjust. We are an easy club to criticise and in my time [at the club], the way we have been reported is unfair", he said. Other examples of this include archive footage of their hooligan element's past bad behaviour being shown, when disorder has occurred at other grounds, not involving them. During a game between Millwall and Huddersfield Town, The Observer reported that a Huddersfield Town fan had thrown a coin at a linesman, and that some Millwall fans had intervened, and handed the culprit over to police. The News of the World, however, bore the headline: "Millwall Thugs Deck Linesman With Concrete". This has led to a siege mentality among supporters of the club, which gave rise to the Millwall fans' famous terrace chant, No one likes us, we don't care, being sung in defiant defence of themselves and their team.
On 7 August 2011, some 200 men, apparently some Millwall supporters, took to the streets of Eltham, south east London, to protect it from rioters who had looted and caused criminal damage the three previous nights throughout London and the rest of England. Police had been severely undermanned and overstretched, causing fans to take protection of their neighbourhoods into their own hands. Instead of singing "No one likes us, and we don't care", some instead sang "No one loots us..."
Millwall are closest in proximity to Charlton Athletic, with The Den and The Valley being less than four miles apart. Since their first game in 1921, Millwall have won 37, drawn 30 and lost 25. The two clubs were in League One for the 2009–10 season which saw the first league meeting between them since 1995–96. The Southeast London derby at The Valley on 19 December 2009 finished in a 4–4 draw, which was the highest-scoring game ever between the sides.
After being promoted to the Championship for the 2010–11 season, Millwall reignited their rivalry with South London club Crystal Palace. The teams met for the first time in four years at Selhurst Park on 16 October 2010, with The Lions winning 1–0. They completed the double over Palace with a 3–0 at The Den on 1 January 2011. In almost 130 games between the two clubs since 1906, Millwall have won 50, drawn 34 and lost 44.
Year | Winner |
1971 | Barry Bridges |
1972 | Bryan King |
1973 | Alf Wood (footballer born 1945)>Alf Wood |
1974 | Alf Wood (footballer born 1945)>Alf Wood |
1975 | Phil Summerill |
1976 | Barry Kitchener |
1977 | Terry Brisley |
1978 | Phil Walker (footballer)>Phil Walker |
1979 | Barry Kitchener |
1980 | John Lyons (footballer)>John Lyons |
1981 | Paul Roberts (footballer)>Paul Roberts |
1982 | Dean Horrix |
Year | Winner |
1983 | Dean Neal |
1984 | Anton Otulakowski |
1985 | Paul Sansome |
1986 | Alan McLeary |
1987 | Brian Horne |
1988 | Danis Salman |
1989 | Terry Hurlock |
1990 | Ian Dawes |
1991 | Teddy Sheringham |
1992 | Aidan Davison |
1993 | Kasey Keller |
1994 | Keith Stevens |
Year | Winner | ||
1995 | Andy Roberts (footballer)>Andy Roberts | ||
1996 | Ben Thatcher | ||
1997 | Lucas Neill | ||
1998 | Paul Shaw | ||
1999 | Neil Harris (footballer born 1977)>Neil Harris | ||
2000 | Stuart Nethercott | ||
2001 | Matthew Lawrence (footballer)>Matt Lawrence | ||
2002 | Steve Claridge | ||
2003 | Tony Warner | ||
2004 | Darren Ward (footballer born 1978)>Darren Ward | ||
2005 | Darren Ward (footballer born 1978)>Darren Ward | ||
2006 | David Livermore |
|
Year | Winner |
2007 | Richard Shaw (footballer)>Richard Shaw |
2008 | Paul Robinson (footballer born 1982)>Paul Robinson |
2009 | Andrew Frampton |
2010 | Alan Dunne |
2011 | Tamika Mkandawire |
;Ghana Kim Grant
;Jamaica Darren Byfield
;Northern Ireland Tom Brolly Bryan Hamilton Edward Hinton Billy McCullough Anton Rogan
;Republic of Ireland Keith Branagan John Byrne Tony Cascarino Kenny Cunningham Eamon Dunphy Jon Goodman Joe Haverty Charlie Hurley Mark Kennedy Mick McCarthy Kevin O'Callaghan Steven Reid Richard Sadlier |width="33"| |valign="top"| Dave Savage Pat Saward Gary Waddock
;Saint Kitts and Nevis Bobby Bowry
;Scotland Willie Carr Stephen Crawford Paul Hartley Duncan Hean Teddy Sheringham (2009)
See Millwall Lionesses for two female inductees.
Bob Hunter is Millwall's longest serving manager, having stayed at the helm for 15 years. Prior to becoming manager, he was the club's trainer for 21 years. He died in 1933 having served at the club for 36 years. Fred Kidd (1890–1899) Edward Stopher (1899–1900) George Saunders (1900–1910) Bert Lipsham (1911–1918) Bob Hunter (1918–1933) Bill McCracken (1933–1936) Charlie Hewitt (1936–1940) William Voisey (1940–1944) Jack Cock (1944–1948) Charlie Hewitt (1948–1956) Ron Gray (1956–1958) Jimmy Seed (1958–1959) Reg 'J.R.' Smith (1959–1961) Ron Gray (1961–1963) Billy Gray (1963–1966) Benny Fenton (1966–1974) Gordon Jago (1974–1977) Theo Foley (caretaker) George Petchey (1978–1980) Terry Long (caretaker) Peter Anderson (1980–1982) Barry Kitchener (caretaker) George Graham (1982–1986) John Docherty (1986–1990) Bob Pearson (caretaker) Bruce Rioch (1990–1992) Mick McCarthy (1992–1996) Jimmy Nicholl (1996–1997) John Docherty (1997) Billy Bonds (1997–1998) Keith Stevens (1998–1999) Keith Stevens & Alan McLeary (1999–2000) Steve Gritt (caretaker) Ray Harford (caretaker) Mark McGhee (2000–2003) Dennis Wise (2003–2005) Steve Claridge (2005) Colin Lee (2005–2006) Dave Tuttle (2006) Tony Burns & Alan McLeary (caretakers) Nigel Spackman (2006) Willie Donachie (2006–2007) Richard Shaw & Colin West (caretakers) Kenny Jackett (2007–current)
The club's widest victory margin in the league is 9–1, a scoreline which they achieved twice in their Football League Third Division South championship-winning year of 1927. They beat both Torquay United and Coventry City by this score at The Den. Millwall's heaviest league defeat was 8–1 away to Plymouth Argyle in 1932. The club's heaviest loss in all competitions was a 9–1 defeat at Aston Villa in an FA Cup fourth-round second-leg in 1946. Millwall's largest Cup win was 7–0 over Gateshead in 1936. Their highest scoring aggregate game was a 12-goal thriller at home to Preston North End in 1930 when Millwall lost 7–5.
The Firm (1988) – real life Millwall supporter Gary Oldman plays Bex, leader of the football firm the Inter City Crew, a fictional representation of West Ham's Inter City Firm and their violent exploits. Millwall's Bushwackers firm are called The Buccaneers in it.
Arrivederci Millwall (1990) – A group of Millwall supporters travel to the 1982 World Cup in Spain, just after the Falklands War breaks out, intent on avenging a personal loss.
The Football Factory (2004) – primarily about Chelsea's firm The Headhunters, who fight numerous other firms on away days, culminating in the big fight against Millwall.
Green Street (2005) – Elijah Wood plays an American student, who gets involved with West Ham's firm. The film builds up to the big clash with Millwall's firm at the climax, after the two teams draw each other in the cup, echoing the reality of the 2009 Upton Park riots.
Rise of the Footsoldier (2007) – the rise of a football hooligan is chronicled from his beginnings on the terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals. The bitter rivalry between West Ham and Millwall is displayed during the opening scenes of the film.
Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground (2009) – sequel to Green Street. Several members of the West Ham firm and Millwall fans end up in jail. thumb|right|150px|Millwall supporter Lars Frederiksen from the [[punk rock|punk band Rancid with the leaping lion crest on his guitar.]]
The Firm (2009) – a remake of the original 1988 film, by Football Factory director and Millwall fan Nick Love.
The club's ground The Den doubled as The Dragons Lair, home ground of Harchester United in the TV series Dream Team. It also appeared in episodes of the ITV shows The Bill and Primeval.
;Bibliography Goodbye to The Den
Category:Association football clubs established in 1885 Category:English football clubs Category:Football clubs in London Category:Football League Championship clubs Category:Football League clubs Category:Member clubs of the Southern Football League Category:Publicly traded sports companies Category:1885 establishments in England
bg:ФК Милуол cs:Millwall FC da:Millwall F.C. de:FC Millwall el:Μίλγουολ es:Millwall Football Club fa:باشگاه فوتبال میلوال fr:Millwall Football Club ko:밀월 FC hr:Millwall F.C. id:Millwall F.C. it:Millwall Football Club he:מילוול (כדורגל) lb:Millwall FC lt:Millwall FC hu:Millwall FC nl:Millwall FC ja:ミルウォールFC no:Millwall FC pl:Millwall F.C. pt:Millwall Football Club ro:Milwall FC ru:Миллуолл (футбольный клуб) simple:Millwall F.C. sr:ФК Милвол fi:Millwall FC sv:Millwall FC tr:Millwall FC zh:米尔沃尔足球俱乐部This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
The World News (WN) Network, has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to user privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for wn.com, as well as e-mail newsletters.
We do not collect personally identifiable information about you, except when you provide it to us. For example, if you submit an inquiry to us or sign up for our newsletter, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details (name, e-mail address, mailing address, etc.).
When you submit your personally identifiable information through wn.com, you are giving your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you would prefer that we not collect any personally identifiable information from you, please do not provide us with any such information. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to third parties without your consent, except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy.
Except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we will use the information you provide us only for the purpose of responding to your inquiry or in connection with the service for which you provided such information. We may forward your contact information and inquiry to our affiliates and other divisions of our company that we feel can best address your inquiry or provide you with the requested service. We may also use the information you provide in aggregate form for internal business purposes, such as generating statistics and developing marketing plans. We may share or transfer such non-personally identifiable information with or to our affiliates, licensees, agents and partners.
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Such third parties may be provided with access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request.
We do not want you to receive unwanted e-mail from us. We try to make it easy to opt-out of any service you have asked to receive. If you sign-up to our e-mail newsletters we do not sell, exchange or give your e-mail address to a third party.
E-mail addresses are collected via the wn.com web site. Users have to physically opt-in to receive the wn.com newsletter and a verification e-mail is sent. wn.com is clearly and conspicuously named at the point of
collection.If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by e-mailing us at michaelw(at)wn.com
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during registration and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, however. Therefore, though we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If we decide to change our e-mail practices, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we think appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If we make material changes to our e-mail practices, we will notify you here, by e-mail, and by means of a notice on our home page.
The advertising banners and other forms of advertising appearing on this Web site are sometimes delivered to you, on our behalf, by a third party. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, the third party may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. For more information on cookies, you can visit www.cookiecentral.com.
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell certain aspects of our entities or assets. In such transactions, user information, including personally identifiable information, generally is one of the transferred business assets, and by submitting your personal information on Wn.com you agree that your data may be transferred to such parties in these circumstances.