Double Delight at The Den for New Boys

We took our seats in the Cold Blow Lane End and before the game began watched as a moving and heartfelt tribute was paid to the memory of Jimmy Mizen by the capacity crowd at The Den.

This was a London derby that we eagerly anticipated. Sometimes when home form is poor the journey to Millwall can seem a bit of a chore and sometimes I think it is only because we commit to being season ticket holders with hope and optimism each year that the inertia is always overcome and we head out onto the A21/M25/A2 for each home game (and some away ones too if we take the supporters coach !) - but not so this time. We had travelled to Luton and Portsmouth to see ‘The Big F…..g Serbian’ give us a much needed 6 points and we felt that 9 from 3 might be in the offing.

We weren’t disappointed, although in typical Millwall Style we were left agonising in the second half as Millwall defended a 1 goal lead as QPR piled on the pressure in search of getting some value from the game in the last 45 minutes.

There are lots of media outlets covering games blow by blow - the purpose of this one is to give the ‘view from the CBL’ to convey something of the supporters experience on matchday. It is an entirely emotional and biased one written by a lifelong Millwall supporter so I am afraid that balance and perspective are in short supply here.

We were sent into jubilation just 30 seconds after kick off when one of the new kids on the block - Aaron Connolly (pictured above) scored from a cross by make-shift right back and fellow new boy Tristan Crama. I thought maybe we can really thump this team from West London and because it was one of the newly signed players I was filled with anticipation and excitement because these lads had no ‘Millwall - baggage’ but there was a little voice whispering in my ear ‘don’t give a goal away now’ as I celebrated and you guessed it, within a minute of scoring the QPR winger rode a high risk attempted tackle from Joe Bryan up on the half way line which left our channel exposed and the QPR attacker proceeded to march into the box and score across Jensen’s body and I was left shaking my head and very annoyed to say the least.

However another new boy was about to restore our pride. After 25 minutes Luke Cundle (pictured below) headed in from the six yard area after Saville’s header from another Crama cross had hit the bar.

Thoughts Going Forward after ‘9 from 3’

Are Millwall turning a corner ? Is there a new ‘model’ of football emerging at The Den ? Well we have a ‘head coach’ and not a first team manager. Neil Harris did not like this concept and it might be one of the reasons why he left. What does ‘head coach’ as opposed to ‘manager’ actually mean ? - my understanding is that in terms of player recruitment the head coach says to the Director of Football (DOF) ‘I would like a defender/midfielder/attacker of this type and ability please’ and then the DOF and his recruitment team go out and get that player. The idea is that the head coach can focus on team selection, tactics and man - management (coaching) in order to get the optimum performance from the squad of players he has at his disposal. There is nothing new in this method but it is relatively new for Millwall because in order to make this system work you need money and this is something that has always been in short supply in SE16 (and before that SE14). Ultimately it is the owner of the club who authorises and underwrites payment for new players and the reason we have been able to recruit 6 new players in the January 2025 transfer window is quite simply because of the sale of Zian Flemming to Burnley - who we bought from Fortuna Sittard for much less and Romain Esse to Crystal Palace, who is a product of our own Academy, both sales bringing in a combined total of over £21 million. If you combine the ‘head coach and DOF’ model with the development of home grown and inexpensively acquired talent - so called ‘development and sale of assets’ you have a football/business model which clubs like Brentford have used so successfully.

Personally I hope it works out for Millwall - the heady days of Cascarino and Sheringham taking us into the ‘top flight’ are fast becoming a distant memory - to such an extent that when I said ‘hello’ to Les Briley in the car park one Saturday I had to explain to a young supporter who Les was - only our most successful ever first team captain ! So to use a stock brokers phrase usually employed at the start of a new trading year I remain ‘cautiously optimistic’ - as long as we get someone in to replace the awesome Japhet Tanganga when he inevitably leaves us for the premiership.