Europe to League 1… What went wrong?

23/4/06

It started last year. The final game of the 04/05 season was the beginning of the end. Despite recent success for Millwall, Dennis Wise resigned after a 0-0 draw with Burnley and here is were the problems started. This is when the summer clearout began; Paul Ifil, Danny Dichio, Kevin Muscat, Darren Ward, Graham Stack and Peter Sweeney all left during the summer. This left Millwall with half their squad gone, and the bookies soon made Millwall favourites to go down.
 Earlier in the year, Theo Paphitis announced he would be stepping down as chairman (whether Theo still has a large input in decisions, is unknown, but probable), and his successor, Jeff Burnige started all the confusion, when he appointed Steve Claridge as manager.
            But Claridge was soon sacked after only 36 days in charge, and not even one competitive match was played under him, which seemed extremely harsh. So what was the point? As a banner read against Burley: ‘They said we’d be bottom under Claridge.What’s the bloody difference?’
            The board had Colin Lee lined up to replace him, but just like the bookies had predicted, Millwall were bottom after only a couple of games. It took seven games until Millwall got their first league win, with a surprise victory at Wolves, which was followed by a 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday. Colin Lee used the loan system well and brought in three players on emergency loan, which lifted the Lions who won their following three games.
            But the defeats started again and the Lions lost another four on the trot. Sheffield Utd, Southampton, Burnley and Crewe all took three points off the Lions. Millwall fans began to think that the FA wanted Millwall relegated after the Burnley match. Millwall were one up at half time, and looking good for the three points. But Millwall only came out with 10 men in the second half. It was later revealed that Ben May had been sent off in the tunnel, for a ‘racist comment’ made to Frank Sinclair. Millwall actually ended up with 9 men at the end of the match in a controversial game which left Colin Lee disgusted at the end. In the following days, when Millwall went to appeal, the FA replied that this was an invalid appeal and that they could not make a decision as there was no ‘video evidence’. Burnley even found this hard to believe, and they themselves protested to the FA, but they too were rejected.
Along comes Peter De Savary. The entrepreneur who knew nothing about football but still decided to become Chairman of Millwall.  He stood in front of the fans and stated that Millwall will be in the Premier League in 5 years. No chance. With the transfer window looming, there was a lot of hype about the amount of money which was going to be spent and who we would be bringing in. The actual figure amounted to a laughable £125,000, for a striker, Berry Powel, who has not really impressed since.
 Millwall had got through to the fourth round of the Carling Cup, and the Lions were to face Birmingham in an exciting match at the Den. Millwall came back twice and forced the game to penalties, which unfortunately ended up in a 3-4 defeat. But an even bigger worry for the Lions was that the two misses in that shoot-out, were from our ‘strikers’. Hayles and Ben May both missed from the spot, and that says it all.
            Back to the league, and nothing really changed. But the conspiracy theory began to evolve into something more believable. Millwall faced Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and Millwall lead until the 94th minute when Palace equalized. But the fourth official had displayed that only three minutes of added time were going to be played, so how can Palace equalize in the 94th minute?
            Millwall were bottom at Christmas, and it looked certain that Millwall were going to be relegated by the end of the season. Another  change took place at The Den soon after the transfer window. Colin Lee decided to move upstairs as Director of Football and David Tuttle took over and he seemed to have a good effect on the players. Millwall went to Brighton and after 5 minutes, it looked like the same old story, 1-0 to the Seagulls. But a triple substitution at half time lead to a comeback, with Millwall winning the match 2-1. Now with the backing of the fans, Tuttle continued to have an effect on the team as Millwall won their next match against Derby 2-1.
            It was FA cup time again and Millwall were drawn at home to Everton and were, oh so close, to getting past the Merseyside club. Marvin Williams gave the Lions a shock lead with a finish worthy of being in a Premiership match. But the Lions couldn’t hang on and Leon Osmon nicked a goal late on to force a replay. The Lions unfortunately lost 1-0 with a familiar face scoring the important goal, but Tim Cahill respectfully did not celebrate his winner.
            Coming into the final few months of the season, Millwall had put a run of wins together and the fans believed they could make a Great Escape. But the revival stalled and the loosing pattern became a familiar enemy again. It was another three defeats before Millwall won again. And it was Marvin Williams who nicked an injury time winner against Luton, which restored the hope.
            With only 6 games remaining, Millwall managed a shock win over high flying Watford, with Asaba and May scoring the goals. But this was all too late and relegation was confirmed when Sheffield Wednesday beat Brighton which condemned the Lions to League 1.
            Millwall’s fourth manager of the season was not far off, when David Tuttle left the club by mutual consent. Alan McLeary was to take over for the final two matches of the season, and Millwall managed to get a result against Burnley, winning 1-0.
            So what went wrong? Last season we were playing UEFA Cup football, now League 1 football will be the norm. It was a season destroyed by the board, which could not make their mind up about this and that, and in the end, it’s no surprise that Millwall got relegated. Hopefully the board will get it right this time round…