Millwall
Full name Millwall Football Club
Nickname(s) The Lions
Founded 1885
Ground The New Den
(Capacity: 20,146)
Chairman John Berylson
Manager Kenny Jackett
League League One
2009–10 League One, 3rd (Play-off final)
Millwall Football Club (pronounced backslashmɪlwɔːl/) (LSE: MWH) is an English professional football team based in Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark, South East London. They currently play in Football League One. Their traditional strip consists of blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks.
Their current strip is blue shirts, white shorts with blue trim and blue socks. Their ground is called The New Den and is near South Bermondsey Rail station. They have retained the Millwall name despite having last played in the Millwall area in 1910.
The team nickname is The Lions, previously, The Dockers. They changed the nickname after being referred to as "Lions" for their acts of giant killing in their FA Cup run of 1900, when they reached the semi final. They adopted a lion emblem, and the motto: We Fear No Foe Where E'er We Go. The emblem, however, was not added to their shirts until 1936. They also reached the semi final in 1903, and 1937, while they went one better and reached the final in 2004, losing to Manchester United. Their 1937 appearance was notable as they became the first team in the old third division to reach the last four, knocking out three First Division sides on the way, including Derby County who were defeated in front of Millwall's official record crowd of 48,762, with hundreds more locked out.[1] Their original, but now unused, nickname "The Dockers" arose from the job of many of the club's supporters. Millwall were the only club up to the early 1960s allowed to kick-off home games at 3.15pm, instead of 3pm, specifically to allow the dockers and Deal porters to finish their morning shift and arrive at the game on time.[2] In recent years the club has 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.
Despite the club's best efforts over many years to reverse the slur, it has an enduring reputation for having some of the most violent supporters in English football.[3]
History
Main article: History of Millwall F.C.
Millwall "Rovers" were founded by the workers of a gentlemen's club in Millwall in the East End of London on the Isle of Dogs in 1885. J.T. Morton had his first factory in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1849 to supply sailing ships with food. They opened their first English cannery and food processing plant on the Isle of Dogs at the Millwall dock in 1870, and attracted a workforce from across the whole of the country, including the East Coast of Scotland who were predominantly Dundee Dockers.
The secretary was seventeen year old Jasper Sexton, the son of the landlord of The Islander Pub in Tooke Street where Millwall held their meetings. The first chairman of the club was Irish international footballer and local GP Doctor William Murray-Leslie, who surprisingly never played for the club.
Millwall Rovers' first fixture was in 1885 against Fillebrook, who played in Leytonstone. The newly formed team was well beaten 5–0. Learning from this early defeat, they were unbeaten in their next 12 games before they lost to the top east London side Old St Pauls. In their first season, they were only beaten three times. In November 1886, the East End Football Association was formed, and along with it came a Senior Cup Competition. Millwall made it to the final against London Caledonians. The game was played at the Leyton Cricket Ground. The match finished 2–2 and the teams shared the cup for six months each. During this season, Millwall played two games on the same day, both at home. The first was a 0–0 draw against Dreadnought in the morning; the second, a 4–1 win against Westminster Swifts in the afternoon.
Despite an 8–1 defeat in the League 3 Cup Millwall went on to win the East London Senior Cup at the first attempt. They went on to win it for the following two years and the trophy became their property.
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Millwall supporters The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (August 2009)
Millwall are, for their comparative size and status, a well supported club. However, they have, unfortunately, been associated with a long and notorious history of football hooliganism. Their Firm, known from the 1970s as the Bushwackers [sic] were one of the most notorious of all football hooligan gangs. However, the Metropolitan police, especially in the local Lewisham borough, are generally supportive of the club and recognise that any problems now emanate from a very small minority. Chief Superintendent Archie Torrance of Lewisham Police has stated, "Millwall have our full support." He continues to work hard with the club to keep the ground the safe place that it now is. Informed media commentators including Danny Baker, Paul Casella the editor of the leading Millwall fan magazine The Lion Roars, Danny Kelly and Steve Claridge also believe that Millwall's hooligan problems are to a certain extent greatly exaggerated, and that wilful media exaggeration has led to a siege mentality among the decent, law abiding fans, who are a constant easy target for media. 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". These, and many other similar incidents, gave rise to the Millwall fans' famous song; No One Likes Us – We Don't Care being sung in defiant defence of themselves, and their team.[5][6][7]
A former Chairman of the club, Reg Burr, once commented; "Millwall are a convenient coat peg for football to hang its social ills on."[8]
Having said this, hooligans attaching themselves to Millwall were involved in a riot away from the ground, after a play off game against Birmingham City in May 2002, which was described by the BBC as one of the worst cases of civil disorder seen in Great Britain in the recent past. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said that 47 policemen and 24 police horses were injured, and the Metropolitan Police considered suing Millwall after the events.[9]
The then Chairman, Theo Paphitis, stated that Millwall Football Club could not be blamed for the actions of a mindless minority who attach themselves to the club. He then went on to introduce a Membership Scheme, whereby only fans who would be prepared to join and carry membership cards, would be allowed into The New 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".[10]
Legal experts believed 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 still applies, but for away games only. Many Millwall fans blame Paphitis' scheme for diminishing Millwall's support at away games.
There were no reports of problems with the Millwall supporters at the club's most high-profile match in recent years, the 2004 FA Cup Final in Cardiff. In January 2009, 500 Millwall fans identified as "high risk" gained access to an FA Cup tie against Hull City A.F.C., at Hull's home ground, the KC Stadium, resulting in seats, coins and plastic bottles being thrown at the Hull supporters. Conflicting reports later emerged in the media as to whether items were in fact initially thown by Hull supporters following tongue in cheek chanting and jeering by Millwall fans of Jimmy Bullard (ex West Ham) just prior to the fixture. Around 50 seats were pulled out, and Hull planned to bill Millwall for the damages.[11] On 25 August 2009, clashes between Millwall and West Ham fans outside Upton Park resulted in an innocent Millwall fan's stabbing. The game saw large numbers of West Ham supporters invade the pitch on three occasions, forcing the game to be temporarily suspended on the second occasion. Millwall supporters had earlier clashed with West Ham supporters and riot police, and Scotland Yard believed the violence, because of its large scale, was organized beforehand.[12][13] Both sets of fans were reported for racially abusing players. Millwall F.C. and West Ham United spokepersons swiftly denounced this.
Famous Millwall supporters include world heavyweight boxing champion David Haye, tv funnyman Michael Barrymore, Patrick Murray (Mickey Pearce) from Only Fools and Horses, Daniel Day Lewis and supposedly Morrissey.
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Current squad
As of 13 February 2010.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.No. Position Player
1 GK David Forde
2 DF Alan Dunne
3 DF Andrew Frampton
5 DF Paul Robinson ©
7 MF Danny Schofield
8 FW Gary Alexander
9 FW Neil Harris
10 FW Lewis Grabban
12 MF Chris Hackett
13 GK John Sullivan
15 DF Tony Craig
16 DF Scott Barron
No. Position Player
18 DF Darren Ward
19 FW Ashley Grimes
20 FW Steve Morison
21 DF Jack Smith
22 MF Ali Fuseini
23 FW Jason Price
24 MF Marc Laird
25 FW Shaun Batt (on loan from Peterborough United)
26 MF Nadjim Abdou
27 DF Pat O'Connor
30 FW Jonathan Obika (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
40 MF Liam Trotter (on loan from Ipswich Town)
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.No. Position Player
4 MF Adam Bolder (at Bradford City)
11 MF Dave Martin (at Derby County)
31 FW Kiernan Hughes-Mason (at Cheltenham Town)
34 FW John Marquis (at Staines Town)
Notable former players This list of "famous" or "notable" sporting persons has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to define clear inclusion criteria and edit the list to contain only appropriate entries.
Australia
Tim Godden
Kevin Muscat
Lucas Neill
Tim Cahill
Barbados
Paul Ifill
Belgium
Christophe Kinet
Bob Peeters
England
Sam Allardyce
Herbert Banks
Colin Cooper
Chris Armstrong
Gordon Bolland
Les Briley
Peter Burridge
Jimmy Carter
Steve Claridge Jack Cock
Jimmy Constantine
Colin Cooper
Harry Cripps
Ian Dawes
Marvin Elliott
John Fashanu
Jack Fort
Freddie Fox
Leonard Graham
Gordon Hill
Richard Hill
Glen Johnson (On loan from West Ham)
Bryan King
Barry Kitchener
Paul Shaw
Matthew Lawrence
Dave Mangnall
Alan McLeary
Stuart Nethercott
Derek Possee
Barry Rowan
Neil Ruddock John Seasman
Teddy Sheringham
Reg Smith
Alex Stepney
Keith Stevens
John Willie Sutcliffe
Tony Towner
Phil Walker
Darren Ward
Keith Weller
Curtis Weston
Dennis Wise
Gary Elliott
Republic of Ireland
Keith Branagan
Tony Cascarino
Kenny Cunningham
Eamon Dunphy
Jon Goodman
Charlie Hurley
Mark Kennedy
Mick McCarthy Kevin O'Callaghan
Steven Reid
Richard Sadlier
Gary Waddock
Scotland
Willie Carr
Stephen Crawford
Paul Hartley
John McGinlay
Alex Rae
Trinidad & Tobago
Tony Warner
United States of America
Kasey Keller
Bruce Murray
Wales
Malcolm Allen
Walter Otto Davis
Steve Lowndes
Ben Thatcher
Honours
Football League Second Division (second tier)
Champions: 1987-88
Football League Third Division (third tier)
Champions: 1927-28, 1937-38 (then Division Three South), 2000-01 (by then known as the Second Division)
Football League Fourth Division (fourth tier)
Champions: 1961-62
FA Cup
Runners-up: 2003-04
Football League Group Cup
Winners: 1982-83
AutoWindscreens Shield
Runners-up: 1998-99
FA Youth Cup
Winners: 1979, 1991.
Southern League
Champions: 1895, 1896.
Western League
Champions: 1908, 1909.
United League
Champions: 1897, 1899.
London League
Champions: 1904.
East London Senior Cup
Winners: 1887, 1888, 1889.
East London FA Cup
Joint Winners: 1886.
მოდერებო, გთხოვთ არ დამიხუროთ, ამის თარგმნა ჩემს შესაძლებლობებს აღემატება 
This post has been edited by Paul Avril on 26 May 2010, 13:50 
Millwall Football Club, The Lions
