[Lord Snooty]

Millwall v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday February 7th - 3:00 ko
at The Den

Huddersfield Town travel south to Millwall and to the Den on Saturday for a Sky Bet Championship match which could see the home side out of the bottom three with a win or see Town fly up into the top half of the table. But following last Saturday's derby day debacle, the unthinkable could happen and another Town defeat could see us below Leeds again. Therefore, this is another must win game against a side that have been quite busy in the January transfer window and following their win away at Nottingham Forest could prove to be a more tricky opponent than they might have been a couple of weeks ago.

Town team news: Dirty Leeds have given us another injury crisis, with Nahki Wells and the hospitalised Tommy Smith all doubtful for this one. Joel Lynch is out for at least two weeks.
However, we have been very busy in the January transfer window and have brought in a total of two players. One of them, David Edgar, we have already seen, but now we have a new big, powerful striker to get excited about in the shape of ex Premier League player, Ishmael Miller.

Millwall have also been busy, signing Michael Tonge from dirty Leeds and Spurs' Scottish u21 keeper, Jordan Archer, on deadline day. Those two were additions to other signings made during the window of Jos Hooiveld on loan from Southampton, Shaun Cummings from Reading, one of Watford's Italian brigade, Diego Fabbrini on loan and Austrian striker, Stefan Maierhofer.

How much?  

Tickets are priced at:
£23 adults
£14 seniors (over-60s)
£10 under-16s
£5 under-12s
Ambulant disabled supporters should pay their relevant price class and can take a carer free of charge, whereas tickets for wheelchair-bound supporters are priced at £23 for adults with a free carer.

Coach travel: departing from PPG Canalside at 8am, seats on the coach are priced at £21.50 per person.

How to get there:
By car; the post code for sat nav is SE16 3LN.

By train: South Bermondsey Railway Station is only a few minutes walk from the ground. There is a direct walkway specifically built for away fans which takes you directly to the away end and back to the station afterwards.


Where to drink: No idea! Over to our Beer Correspondent, Mr Wakey Terrier...........


A brief history of Millwall FC: They haven't actually played in Millwall since 1910. Formed as Millwall Rovers in 1885 by the workers of a canning factory, mainly Scottish lads who had come down to work at the new plant opened in 1872 by the Aberdeen based company, JT Morton. They played at four different venues in Millwall before moving to New Cross in 1910 to play at The Den.

The old Den

They joined the Football League in 1920/21 with the newly formed regional Third Division and one of their biggest results in those early years was beating the thrice champions, Huddersfield Town, 3-1 in the 1926/27 FA Cup. And in 1937 they reached the FA Cup semi finals, losing 2-1 to Sunderland at Huddersfield Town's Leeds Road Stadium.
They were on the brink of the First Division, with Town legend Dave Mangnall in charge, when the Second World War broke out. The Den took a pounding from the Luftwaffe and when the war was over, so was Millwall's chance of reaching for the sky. By the end of the 1950s they had plummetted down the league and when the third divisions went national, they were in the 4th division. They won promotion in 1964/65 though and have never been back to the 4th tier.
A steady climb upwards led to the eventual promotion to the top flight of English football in 1988/89 under the management of John Docherty and with the goals of Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham. They stayed there for a couple of seasons, finishing 10th in the first one, before finishing bottom in the second.
In 1993 they moved ground, to South Bermondsey and the New Den. After initial success at the new all seater stadium, a slump saw them relegated in 1996, but as a third division club, they reached Wembley for the first time, losing the 1999 Auto Windscreens Trophy Final 1-0 to Wigan, a team who would become their nemesis by beating them again in the following season's Play Offs. They went up as champions in the season after this though, with a club record 93 points.
In 2004 they reached the FA Cup Final, losing to Man Utd 3-0, but as United had already qualified for Europe, this meant that Millwall would play in the following season's UEFA Cup. They lost in the first round to Ferencváros.
Relegated again in 2006, they won promotion back again in 2009/10, via the Play Offs, beating Swindon in the final at Wembley. They did, of course, beat us 2-0 on aggregate on their way there.
In 2013, Millwall once again reached the FA Cup semi finals, losing again to their old nemesis Wigan by two goals to nil.


Head to Head



Town lead the overall head to head by 20 wins to 18, with 6 draws. That's in all competitions. In league matches it's 18 Town wins to Millwall's 15, with 4 draws.

Earlier this season Town won 2-1 at the John Smith's Stadium with two goals from Nahki Wells. We did the double over them last season, both 1-0 wins. Wells again scoring in the home match on his debut and James Vaughan scoring at the Den. We've won the last four games v Millwall now.
Still fresh in the minds of Town fans though will be the defeat in the 2010 Play Offs when we lost 2-0 down there in the second leg after a 0-0 draw at home. Only Alex Smithies survives from that team.
Way back in the mists of time, our first meeting was a 4th round FA Cup match in the 1921-22 season when we, of course, went on to win it. We beat them that day 3-0 at Leeds Road with two goals from Clem Stephenson and one from Ernest Islip.

So what have modern day Millwall got?

They won 1-0  away at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Managed these days by Ian Holloway, the former Bristol Rovers manager, who has had a grudge against Huddersfield Town ever since he was forced to sell us Marcus Stewart in 1996.

So who has that West Country Wazzock been playing in his first XI?

His selected first XI in the last match at Forest was.....

01 David Forde: long serving goalkeeper, now in his seventh season at the Den.
04 Shaun Cummings: signed from Reading in January.
05 Jos Hooiveld: is a Dutch centre back on loan from Southampton.
16 Mark Beevers: ex Wendy defender.
02 Alan Dunne ©: now aged 32, has been at the club since he was 8.
06 Shaun Williams: defensive midfielder signed from MK Dons last year.
26 Nadjim Abdou: another long serving player, having joined from Plymouth in 2008.
18 Magaye Gueye: signed in the summer from Everton.
08 Diego Fabbrini: on loan from Watford.
07 Lee Martin: winger who started off at Man Utd but has been on loan al over the place, but signed from Ipswich in 2013.
42 Stefan Maierhofer: is an Austrian striker who made his Millwall debut in that match at Forest on Saturday.

Substitutes:
09 Lee Gregory: prolific goalscorer for FC Halifax Town, signed for Millwall last summer.
15 Ed Upson: ex Yeovil midfielder.
17 Byron Webster: ex Yeovil defender.
19 Ricardo Fuller: has played in the Premier League for Portsmouth and Stoke and ripped our defence to bits last season at Blackpool, before signing for Millwall in the summer.
22 Aiden O'Brien: is a 21 year old striker with only one league appearance to his name.
23 Jack Powell: is a 21 year old striker with only two league appearances to his name.
41 Tom King: reserve keeper.

Leading scorer - Ricardo Fuller  with 6.

Recent form - Last six games:

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Millwall
Millwall 0-0 Reading
Millwall 1-3 Ipswich
Bradford City 4-0 Millwall (FA Cup replay)
Blackpool 1-0 Millwall
Millwall 3-3 Bradford City (FA Cup)

Town 1-2 Leeds
Wigan 0-1 Town
Middlesbrough 2-0 Town
Town 3-1 Watford
Town 0-1 Reading (FA Cup)
Town 2-1 Bolton

Millwall are 22nd in the league with 27 points, that's 7 less than we have. Town are 17th on 34 points and that's the same as Nottingham Forest in 12th. Cardiff, Bolton, Fulham and Reading all also have 34 points.

Club connections:
Benik Afobe: will be 22 years old next week and has now fullfilled his true potentil by joining Wolverhampton Wanderers. Benik was on loan at Millwall two seasons ago, but only played 5 times before a serious knee injury had him returning to Arsenal. But he will be most fondly remembered as a 17 year old playing in our team that couldn't quite make it through the play offs in 2010/11.

Sam Allardyce: had one season at Leeds Road in the mid 80s, marked mainly by his sending off for chasing and punching a Fulham player. He'd obviously been watching the antics of the F-Troop in his time at Millwall a few years earlier. He had a couple of years at the Den and now manages West Ham

Kenny Brown: came to Town on loan from West Ham in the mid 90s and was a good signing at the time. We never kept him though and after loans at five other clubs, he signed for Millwall. One season there and then dropped into the non-leagues.

Dave Mangnall: is a legend of both clubs. None of us will have seen him play though as this was back in the 1930s. He scored Town's record number of goals in a season (all competitions), the one record that Jordan Rhodes couldn't catch the other year. In 1934 he left Leeds Road for West Ham, then Birmingham and then on to Millwall where as player manager, he steered them to the FA Cup semi final in 1937. They were beaten by Sunderland at the neutral venue, Leeds Road. He took Millwall to promotion the following season, but then WWII broke that team up.

Scott McDonald: played 13 uninspiring games for us on loan from Southampton, scoring once in a defeat at Tranmere. Went up north to Motherwell, Celtic and Middlesbrough before joining Millwall. Was released from his contract in this latest January transfer window.

Theo Robinson: is now at his ninth club. That's Doncaster Rovers, but the fifth and sixth clubs of his career were Huddersfield Town and Millwall.

Danny Schofield: signed from the non-league side, Brodsworth Welfare, by Peter Jackson, he spent ten years at Town before moving down south to play for Yeovil. From there he moved to Millwall and spent a couple of years there. He now plays in the Conference for FC Halifax Town.

[theo_luddite]

Another humdinger of a thread there Snoots.

Forest couldn't win a raffle if they had all the tickets at the moment, so I'm not reading too much into that one result. The defeat at Blackpool tells you more about where they are (or were at the year end). Hollowmouth has brought in a few new faces but it remains to be seen whether they will improve results going forward or just slip back into the malaise. Having said that, I'll take any points we come back with from a place that can be hostile when the only thing going on is the grass growing in Summer.

[WakeyTerrier]

Fear not ladies and gents I've found you a pub to drink in...well those that are going via London Bridge.

I give you http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/george-inn/

That's right folks a boozer that is protected by the National Trust, not only that but this weekend the Southern supporters group will be meeting here for pre match scoops and a chin wag. I've been here several times and never seen any trouble bars both up and downstairs, seating outside in a courtyard as well if you need to nip out for a crafty fag because the thought of watching Town is getting to you

---

Here's some vital info for you that I shared on Facebook earlier this week which may influence your desicion to go or not.

I've seen 8 away League games this season, we've lost 7 of them and drawn 1. That's 1 point from a possible 24 so please remember before you make any rash decisions that I'm going to both Millwall and Bournemouth in the next 8 days.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

[theo_luddite]

I've read of issues on Network Rail for trains crossing the river to/from London Bridge due to maintenance work. OK from London Bridge to South Bermondsey, Tube also OK north of the river to/from London Bridge. Check your route on the tfl website. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

PS do us a favour Wakey and go away somewhere on holiday for the Charlton game.

[Lord Snooty]

Well done, lads.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Snoots' dad died this morning. He was 86 and a lifelong Town fan. Lets hope we can send him out with a win today.
RIP Tom. X

[EastLondonTerrier]

I'll be going to this one on my own for the first time as my old man is very ill too. Hoping I can visit him tonight saying how we smashed this lot out of the water. UTT.

[theo_luddite]

That's a fair innings Amchaff but it's always too young when it's family. Thoughts and a big virtual hug go out to Snoots, yourself, family and friends.

[JUSTASILLYOLDGIT]

My thoughts are with you Snoots.

[St Charles Owl]

Sorry to hear that Snoots!! Lets hope the team give him a good sending off!!