Reprieve for Millwall?

Our sister site, The Political Economy of Football, reports on a possible reprieve for Millwall in the bid to save land around their ground from a compulsory purchase order: Reprieve?

I know we have a needle derby against them coming up, but what is happening at The New Den is a potential threat to all clubs with established grounds, including us, in the name of 'regeneration' or 'gentrification'. All fans should sign the change.org petition.

Seven goals at the New Den

Recent fixtures between Millwall and Charlton have seen some high scorelines and this afternoon's friendly at The New Den saw seven goals scored with the home side ending 4-3 victors.

Charlton went ahead in the first half through Bradley Wright-Phillips but then Millwall equalised from a free kick. Bradley Wright-Phillips put Charlton ahead again, but Millwall scored two more to go in 3-2 ahead at the break. The Addicks had been losing possession to a worrying extent and were prone to rushing too much.

After the break they tried to play more of a passing game. Racon signalled a new found interest in aquatic sports by displaying his diving skills. Jackson scored for the Addicks to make it 3-3, but a free kick just outside the box enabled Millwall to win the testimonial fixture.

Not a bad result, but doubts about Wiggins surfaced again.

View from the New Den

A Millwall source takes a look at the Charlton side under Chris Powell: Millwall

Erith Addick Paul May has agreed to brave the New Den on Saturday to provide a match report.

The Addicks beat Den Bosch last night 1-0 through a Bradley Wright-Phillips goal to lift the People's Cup. Danny Green, Johnny Jackson and Paul Hayes all hit the woodwork.

Some comments from an Addick who was there:

Overall, as has been said a very solid performance and showing much promise without setting the world alight. If Jackson had put the chance away later in the second half the 2-0 scoreline would have been a fairer reflection (he hit the bar).

For me the centre back performances stood out. Both look tidy players and both worked well together as a defensive unit. Frequently you could see an understanding between them, they operated as a pair rather than 2 new together players.

Wiggins - first time I've seen him and I didn't think it was that bad, as you said he was up against a good right midfield and on the whole he frustrated him. I suspect that most of his game last night was about stopping the forward rather than looking to push on.

There was a definite attempt to play a passing game with very few long balls out from the keeper. One note on Elliot I thought he parried a number of balls that he could have tried to hold?

BWP - I thought he had a good game, seemed very mobile and covered a lot of ground dropping back to link with midfield. Took his chance like an accomplished and confident striker.

Benson came on and did ok - anyone else think he has lost weight? - not that he was particularly heavy last year.

Hollands, Stephens, Green and Jackson. while being happy overall I was less impressed with the midfield as I was with the back 4. They did pass well but with a couple of exceptions they didn't quite get forward as much as I suspect they will need to. We will need the midfield to contribute heavily to the goal scoring, if they don't break forward I suspect teams will soon learn to mark BWP out of the game and nullify our scoring.
That said great to see Jackson back and Green covered a lot of ground. The 2 in the middle will come good but are still finding their feet in a very new look team.

Hayes - not sure yet, thought he was a bit quiet, but is only one game and there were so many new faces I found it a job to keep an eye on all so might be doing him an injustice.

Well done to Powell, he looks to be building a solid and entertaining team which will compete well in this league next season. Seems to me he has gone for a similar set of players, all with hunger but all having already established themselves at previous clubs and confident of their abilities. They should be a bunch that develop the understandings and gel quickly.

It's a Dunne deal

Millwall's Alan Dunne has been talking to The League Paper about his testimonial match against Charlton on 30 July. Now 28, Dunne first signed for Millwall on his 10th birthday so he has been at the club for neraly 20 years. As he points out, testimonials are quite rare these days (was Curbs the last one we had at Charlton?)

He explained a special constraint in arranging the match: 'When you play for Millwall there is a very limited number of clubs you can choose from for a testimonial! When I say limited, you can count them on your hand! The police narrow it down a lot and Charlton were the only London club I can play.'

'I am a local boy so I wanted a local game so I'm delighted to get Charlton. It's a big game for both teams because it is a week before the season starts and so it will be taken seriously.'

Although Millwall faded a little towards the end of the season, denying them a possible play off place, they are hoping to make a challenge for promotion next season. It was argued the other week that the fanbase was large enough to sustain a top flight club.

Millwall in the Premier League and Charlton in League 1 would be a bitter pill to swallow. Alternatively, the Addicks, Millwall and Palace could all be in the Championship the season after next. League 1, on the other hand, will have a more northern feel in the coming season and can no longer be characterised as a modified version of the old Third Division South.

Millwall shares 'not worth the paper they are printed on'

The Financial Times has declared Millwall shares 'not worth the paper they are printed on' as the New Cross club finalises plans to convert every 100,000 shares into one new share. The Pink 'Un compares the shares with Reichmark bills from Weimar Germany or Zimbabwean dollars: Millwall

The Spanners have issued twice as many shares as BP. Shareholders who lose their holding will receive 'a certificate of appreciation'. Perhaps it will carry the club's informal slogan: 'No one likes us, we don't care.'

It's just like being away at Millwall

Football in Israel is a bit fraught with some teams supported by particular political factions and others refusing to play Israeli Arabs. Former Aston Villa supremo John Gregory has taken over at Maccibi Ahi Nazareth (that's the home town of the founder of Christianity by the way).

At some grounds stones and rocks are used by home fans against the away coach and rockets are also fired. Gregory is not fazed: 'I've been on the away team coach to Millwall, it's not that different' he told 4-4-2 magazine.

Early Christmas present for Jimmy Abdou

French charm merchant Jimmy Abdou has had the red card he received at The Valley on Saturday rescinded by the FA: Spanner

I don't think he should have been sent off in the first place. If anyone should have gone, it should have been the player who brought about the first penalty. But don't expect consistency or a sensible application of the rules from the type of referee we had on Saturday. Apparently, some of the cast off football refs and linos end up in ice hockey - or so it seems.

In a way it helps us, as he is now available when the Spanners disturb the calm of the cathedral city of Norwich on Boxing Day.

Incidentally, I think that those searching for a gloomy narrative have been talking up the Canaries too much. Here is a comment from a respected Charlton fan who lives in Norfolk and was obliged to go to Carrow Road on Saturday: 'I went to watch Narge on Saturday They weren't that great. Hoolahan a decent player and Holt's an awkward lump. They don't have that much other than high confidence and a large home following. Rumour has it that they are seriously compromised financially and my have to sell in the January window.'

Much may depend on whether Delia's cookery books have good Christmas sales. Perhaps she will have to downsize her house like Richard Murray has - which just shows his dedication to the cause. Would I do that to help the club?

Here is the story on Super Alan Pardew referred to in a comment: Man of the moment

That's entertainment

I didn't write anything yesterday evening because I wanted to collect my thoughts after one of the most incredible matches I have seen at The Valley. Of course, I have seen a 4-4 draw before: I remember us coming back from 2-4 down against Norwich to equalise in the dying minutes of the match. Yesterday it was Millwall who took advantage of five minutes of injury time to deny the Addicks three points.

I had expected that this derby would end in a draw: local derbies tend to. I had not anticipated, and I don't think anyone had, that Charlton would go 0-2 behind, recover to 2-2 through two penalties (when often we are denied any penalties); go ahead through a Nicky Bailey wonder strike; see the Spanners equalise again; go ahead again through an own goal, Morison's third of the match; and finally concede.

As a spectacle, it was edge of the seats stuff and it certainly had the nerves of the Addickted jangling. I think one has to give credit to Millwall for the way they set out their stall as Curbs use to say. It was clear that they had come to The Valley to win and although it was kick-and-rush football, it unsettled a fragile Charlton defence.

In the programme there was a report on the defeat by Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup and it was said that our Academy players 'lacked a bit of composure when we got on the ball.' Unfortunately that was true of our first team yesterday. Too often panic clearances from the defence went straight to a Millwall player or possession was lost in midfield. The team looked nervous to me and that is not surprising when it seemed to contain more relatively inexperienced youngsters than the visitors.

It could be argued that we should have done more against ten men, but in fact it is not that easy to play against ten fired up men as we have shown ourselves this season. The stats showed that we had only six goal attempts as against 13 by the Spanners. Four of ours were on target as against six for the opposition.

There is no doubt that this is two points lost and it is galling to lose them in a derby match. Quite frankly, I find the lower middle class angst of the Nigels and Nigellas more irritating than the raw emotion of Millwall whom I regard as a more authentic football club. But then perhaps that was because my wife's father was Palace.

Norwich won convincingly at home against a Huddersfield side that looked impressive when they came to The Valley. They have clearly been staying off the cooking sherry and look like the main challengers for the second automatic promotion place. However, I am more than happy with being four points clear in second place at this stage of the season.

We can also take some heart from an attendance of 19,105, although not all of them were in the ground as some were trapped by the snow in Kent villages. However, it is nearly 5,000 more than those who saw Darren Ambrose fail to score from a penalty at Sainsbury's.

Fan behaviour

I arrived at The Valley relatively early (around 2 p.m.) A group of Millwall fans was stretched across Floyd Road, largely blocking it, although they were coralled by the police and it was possible to walk along the pavement. Same old Millwall: always trying to intimidate.

I saw it going off a few times in the ground, but my attention was on the pitch. Some fans have expressed concerns about the stewarding. One commented, 'At the Jummy Seed end, the "Peter's Pies" [who they? ed] boarding was kicked to pieces by the Spanners and one board flew very close to a Steward and how did they respond? From where I was they simply escorted the offender back to his seat (not that any of them sat down at all). [I also saw this incident]. Surely a piece of obvious vandalism like that is worthy of an ejection. [An alternative view is that it happened accidentally when the Spanners were carried away by the excitement of scoring and that throwing them out could have caused even more trouble]. The East Stand was even more comical: there was a group of around 12 Spanners there and there were at point 20 stewards and 6 policemen surrounding them in a circle. They then moved them down to the bottom and then marched them up to the top where they seemed to be taken out.'

Another fan reported, 'It nearly got nasty in the west/North corner when a bloke jumped up when they scored their first goal, They were obviously Millwall supporters but they were not causing trouble. The problem was that the stewards took 15 minutes to turn up to chuck themout and because of that it could have got nasty. Some idiot Charlton supporters tried to attack them which was really brave considering two of them must have been in their 60's. Having said that they should not have been there.'

There was a certain irony in seeing a group of Millwall supporters on the balcony of the flats overlooking The Valley with a large St.George's Cross flag displayed declaring their loyalty to the Spanners.

The train back was full of Spanners, most of whom would probably have failed the breath test. However, we had no trouble from them. One expressed the view to me and my companions that we had been 'merde', but that was probably the view of some Charlton supporters as well. One young woman said that she had been in the Covered End for the whole match.

Let's not forget that this match was dedicated to fighting street violence and that the families of two young men who had been murdered, one a Millwall supporter and one a Charlton fan, bravely came on to the pitch before the match. It must have been difficult for them, but the applause from both sets of fans shows that they have real sympathy from the community. It was also good to see the players of both teams shaking hands after such a hard fought match and the two goalkeepers conferring.

The match

Millwall's first goal scored by Morison was gifted by a Charlton defensive error involving Wagstaffe. Their second resulted from the referee giving a corner that should have been a goal kick. With my sports journalist hat on, I can say that really was the case. However, we should have been sharper in the box to prevent Morison from scoring. On other occasions we gave the Spanners space in the danger zone, but fortunately they were not always able to take advantage.

Andy Frampton fouled David Mooney in the box. At first I thought we had been lucky, but someone who was in the Covered End assured me that it ws a penalty. Deon Burton, who even the most grudging Addicks must acknowledge has played his part this season, stepped up to score.

A professional foul led to a red card for Millwall charm merchant Nadjim Abdou who was reluctant to go and then trudged off at snail's pace, presumably to delay the penalty. After the referee had gone round all the players explaining what a penalty was and they musn't encroach, Burton was finally allowed to put the ball in the back of the net.

Half time: Addicks 2, Spanners 2

Some Addickted were speculating at half time that Parky might bring on Shelvey in place of Sam who was in danger of being sent off, but equally had the chance to be a match maker. I'm not sure that Shelvey would have coped well with such an occasion.

Nicky Bailey put in a superb volley from distance immediately after the break to make it 3-2. It's quite a while since I have seen him do that.

However, the visitors were not going to give up and Dave Martin brought the Spanners back on term from close range. This goal annoyed me as the whole move started with a free kick given against us when Semedo had won the ball entirely fairly.

Morison then obligingly put us ahead again by putting the ball into his own net. Quite how he did it I don't know as I thought the ball had been played out, but it went in off the post. It was certainly his best goal. Millwall had brought on masked man Tony Craig to strengthen a defence that seemed to be tiring - but then we were as well.

However, it was evident that Millwall were likely to equalise and they did this with a shot from Danny Schofield.

Match analysis

Ivy the Terrible has awarded a special Christmas Silver Bone with added tinsel to Deon Burton. Burton took his penalties calmly and confidently under considerable pressure, but also led the line well. It was quite a surprise when goalkeeper Rob Elliot came out in the programme as a social constructivist. It is something that could happen at Charlton, but not at Millwall. I think that his youth and inexperience is sometimes a problem but I wouldn't particularly blame him for the four goals conceded. Omozusi is no Richardson and it is pleasing to hear that our first choice right back may be available on Boxing Day. Nevertheless, I thought that he showed some nice touches. Christian Dailly is normally Mr Reliable, but he was certainly caught our for the decisive fourth goal. Sodje generally had a good game, although one is never certain where his headers in defence are going to go. I think that the real problem in defence was Grant Basey and his expression at the end of the game shows that he knew it. Two of Millwall's goals were scored from approach play down the right wing and he was certainly at fault in relation to the decisive fourth goal. One of the issues I have with Charlton fans is that they are excessively sentimental about Academy players. Basey is still developing, but whether he will be the finished product remains to be seen. The fulcrum of our team Semedo was run ragged by Millwall in this game which is perhaps why there were no chants reminding us that he comes from Portugal and hates Millwall.
Bailey was certainly up for it and his goal was superb. He also tried to do his best to shore up the defence. Sam was his usual self: occcasionally showing us why he may attract a bid from a higher level club in the transfer window, but also fading out of the game from time to time. I am afraid that this was an occasion when the relative inexperience of Wagstaffe was in evidence. He had his moments, but for most of the time he was out of it, even leaving aside the mistake that led to the opening goal. I thought that Mooney as the most advanced player could have made more of a couple of half chances to provide an assist early in the game, but no one can fault his commitment. The injury looked quite serious, even though he didn't need the stretcher and was able to limp off. I thought that the pace of McKenize gave the Spanners a few problems when he came on. Akpo Sodje tried to play his part but was unable to change the course of the match. Spring was brought on late on to try and use his experience to steady the ship, but it didn't work.

Hiss of the Match This has been awarded by Juneau the Soccer Cat to referee M Jones. Six yellow cards were issued in the match and it wasn't that dirty. In the first half he gave one to Sam and the Millwall player who had been marking him and they both laughed and commiserated with each other afterwards. When he gave a talking to a player or players, it went on for ever as he obviously liked the sound of his own voice. The epitome of fussiness, he was very concerned about the exact placing of the ball in the corner quadrant. Thank goodness there were relatively few corners.

Crowd rating The Covered End tried to match the Spanners in the Jimmy Seed, but it wasn't always easy. 7/10.

Welcome back, Chris Dickson

The club's E mail bulletin reports: 'Charlton's striking ranks are set to swell after the weekend, with Chris Dickson's loan spell at Bristol Rovers coming to an end after the Pirates take on Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.

"He's scored four goals for Bristol and has done well there. We'll get to January and assess the situation," said Phil Parkinson.

"But from next week, he's back training with us and in contention for a place. Bristol haven't said they don't want to sign him, but my thoughts are that if they haven't opened discussions to keep him permanently, then they're happy for him to come back."'

In other words, the Gasheads do not think he is the secret weapon that some Charlton fans rate him as. Of course, they may argue that he has never been given a run in the team, but has his form ever justified that? In my view it's a big ask for someone from the third tier of the non-league (which I watch frequently) to adjust to League 1 football.

It looks as if we have three strikers who will rotate out on loan: Stuart Fleetwood (another non-league acquisition who has only appeared in a friendly), tartan hero Izale McLeod and Dickson.

Fortunately, it looks as if Mooney may stay on given the availability of players returning from injury at Reading. Akpo Sodje may be recalled as Wednesday attempt to get themselves out of the mire.

I haven't done a match preview for Millwall because this is so well done by Charlton Athletic Online and Iberian Valley among others. However, I am forecasting a 1-1 draw for today's Sarf London derby. Let's hope that the spirit shown by the two clubs in the approach to the match in emphasising their dedication to combat street violence is reflected in the behaviour of the fans.

Should we lose (I don't think we will), expect the moaners (who have been quiet recently) to come out of the woodwork to denounce Parkinson. I was talking to a friend who is a keen Huddersfield fan the other week. I was impressed by Bruddersfield when they came to The Valley, but he reckons the automatic promotion places have already been booked by Leeds and Charlton.

Gloomsters have been pointing to our poor record in the last ten matches of the season, but I think this was primarily a feature of the Curbishley era. Particularly when we were in the Premiership there was a tendency to take out foot off the pedal when the 40 points safety marked had been passed. Also, to be fair, the squad lacked real strength in depth and injuries and suspensions took their toll as the year wore on.

Enjoy the game!

No more swearing at the New Den?

The Millwall Football Club is engaged in an ambitious plan to end the use of profane language at the New Den: Cor blimey guv

Rivalries

As we look forward to Saturday's match against the Spanners (weather permitting), this is a good time to reflect on local rivalries. It's a long time since we've met Millwall on the pitch. Many fans have good memories of the victory in the snow at the New Den when the announcer stated that 'Shooters Hill Station' was now closed. I remember a 1-1 draw at home when a timid referee denied us a sure fire penalty.

For a long time Millwall has dropped below the radar, although those of us who travel to The Valley by train were always reminded of the brooding presence of the rust bucket next door to the generating station recycling rubbish into power. However, in recent years our attention has focused on the Nigels and Nigellas of Crystal Palace where there is a real sense of grievance, although they feel we should be grateful to them. Given recent events under the Orange One could almost feel sorry for them (well just a little bit) although at least Noades has confirmed that he will not return.

In the 1950s there were quite a few fans who alternated between The Den and The Valley each Saturday. Somewhat oddly, given that he would have regarded himself as Charlton, my uncle called his house in Belvedere The Den, but I do not think this had any connection with Bermondesey. An even larger group of supporters went to see the Gooners when they were at home, but our rivalry with the 'Woolwich Rejects' has never been that intense. Attempts to stoke up a rivalry with Gillingham over the 'Kent Derby' have a synthetic quality. I probably have a greater dislike for Queen's Park Rangers.

Hopefully we will have enough in our toolbox to defeat the Spanners on Saturday and there will not be too much trouble inside or outside the ground.

Spanner in the works

Spanner Rod Liddle makes a living as a controversial columnist - that is, he says things that are outrageous and provocative to gain attention and get a reaction.

His suggestion in this morning's Sunday Times that Portsmouth and Southampton should merge to form Solent United playing at St.Mary's is clearly a wind up. Joe the Saint contacted me to say that he had fallen about laughing.

The charming Liddle can not, however, resist getting in a dig at Charlton, a familiar theme in his columns. He claims that we are 'strapped for cash almost to the point of annihilation.' Given that we (or our holding company) have not gone into administration and that we have put together some working capital, this seems a bit rich.

Of course, it may be that Millwall will go up as we go down. If that does happen, it will be interesting to see if crowds at the New Den compare with crowds at Charlton during our Championship period.