Preview: Southend United v Millwall

Millwall, (now playing under the name of "Millwall Athletic"), went on to become founder members of the Southern League which they won for the first two years of its existence and were runners up in its third. In those days, The Football League was in its infancy and consisted mainly of northern clubs such as Bury, Notts County, Sheffield United and Preston North End. In the south, the Southern League was not only seen as a rival league, but as prestigious. Millwall were also the Western League Champions in 1908 and 1909.

Millwall played on a variety of grounds on the Isle of Dogs. It was not unusual for Millwall to attract thirty or forty thousand spectators to a game, especially at their second ground at East Ferry Road. This was quite an achievement, given that travelling facilities were sparse.

They are most famous for The Den at New Cross, SE14, which they moved to in 1910. They had previously occupied no fewer than four separate grounds on the Isle Of Dogs in the 25 years since their formation as a football club.

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.

Their original now defunct nickname, 'The Dockers', emanated from the occupation 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, to allow the dockers and Deal porters to finish the morning shift and arrive on time. 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.

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.

Millwall are indeed a well supported club for their size and status. They have, however, had a long and notorious history of football hooliganism. Their Firm, known as the Bushwackers were one of the most notorious of all hooligan gangs.

However, the police, especially in the local Lewisham borough, are 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 such wilful exaggeration has led to a siege mentality among the decent, law abiding fans, who are a constant easy target for both press and media alike.

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.

A former Chairman of the club, Reg Burr, once commented; "Millwall are a convenient coat peg for football to hang its social ills on."

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.

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".

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.

Their behaviour at the 2004 FA Cup Final was exemplary, with the Cardiff police reporting no arrests of any of the Millwall Supporters.

Last season former Swansea manager Kenny Jackett led Millwall to the play-offs where they beat Leeds 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final before losing to Scunthorpe 3-2 in an exciting final at Wembley.

For the Lions full history from Wikipedia go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millwall_F.C.