History of Millwall F.C.

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.

(Murray-Leslie is sometimes cited as being an Irish international footballer, but this is incorrect, since he was a Scot from Knockbain, Ross-shire[1] and in those days you had to be born in Ireland to represent the IFA, ancestry or residence being insufficient.

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.

Despite having won the Cup which was presented by King George VI, the Chelsea post match celebrations soon "fizzled out", and most of their players ended up at the Millwall party, which continued well into the early hours of the morning.

They had to wait until 1948, when permission was granted to build a smaller single tier stand two thirds the length of the pitch, with a forecourt terrace at the front.

This was a team that boasted the inspirational Harry Cripps, Dennis Burnett, Derek Possee, Barry Kitchener, Eamon Dunphy, Keith Weller, Doug Allder, Alan Dorney, Bryan King, and more.

It was during this game that Graham spotted a talented young Lincoln striker, John Fashanu, who signed for Millwall and was an F.A Cup winner with his next club, Wimbledon.

In his second season as manager, Millwall surprised observers by winning the Second Division championship and gained promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history.

This was mainly due to their deadly strike force of Tony Cascarino and Teddy Sheringham, also, Terry Hurlock and team Captain Les Briley who totally dominated the Millwall midfield.

Viewers were treated to a 5-goal thriller in which Millwall were beaten 2–3 by Norwich City thanks to a spectacular Robert Fleck goal scored deep into injury time against the run of play.

During the post match interview, Docherty, instead of criticing the referee's addition of 6 minutes injury time (as the commentary team had done), chose to praise the quality of the young Scot's goal.

They also briefly led the league for one night in September 1989 after beating Coventry 4–1, but won only two more games all season and were relegated in bottom place at the end of the 1989–90 campaign.

Striker Teddy Sheringham, who later played for the England team and was the highest scoring player throughout the Football League in 1990–91, was sold to Nottingham Forest for £2,000,000 after Millwall's defeat in the Second Division playoffs.

They also knocked Arsenal out of the 1994–95 FA Cup in a third round replay, beating them 2–0, with a spectacular goal coming from young Irish midfielder, Mark Kennedy.

McCarthy resigned to take charge of the Republic of Ireland national team on 5 February 1996, shortly after Millwall had been knocked off the top of the Division One table by Sunderland after a 6–0 defeat.

Jimmy Nicholl of Raith Rovers was appointed as McCarthy's replacement, but could not address the slump in form which saw Millwall relegated at the end of the season in 22nd place.

Millwall midfielder Curtis Weston, substituted for Wise with one minute of normal time remaining, became the youngest Cup Final player in history at 17 years 119 days, beating the 125-year-old record of James F. M. Prinsep.

Ironically, sacked manager Steve Claridge had spoken to BBC Sport on 13 April stating, "I was treated absolutely disgracefully at Millwall, for people to come out and say after I'd gone and say, he had to go, we could have got relegated—well, they have done really well since I left, haven't they?"

After being elected by members of the Millwall Supporters Club (MSC), Peter Garston Archived 2 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine was appointed to a two-year term.

On 25 September 2006 Spackman left the club by mutual consent after five successive defeats, placing assistant Willie Donachie in temporary charge, and leaving Millwall second from bottom in League One.

In March 2007 Chestnut Hill Ventures, led by John Berylson, who have interests in business and financial services, retail, property and sport invested £5m into the club.

Chief executive Heather Rabbatts said: "Mr Lacey has left us with little choice so we have decided to call a general meeting as this will result in lesser costs than going to court.

A week before the EGM, Chestnut Hill Ventures, the company of Lions chairman John Berylson, converted a £2.3m loan into shares in Millwall PLC – thereby becoming the club's major shareholder.

Lacey who had foisted the meeting on the Millwall Board, did not turn up[8] During July 2008 there was some controversy over the signings that Kenny Jackett made, as there were few promising young strikers other than Ashley Grimes.

Millwall drew 1–1 with Burnley and wore a special one-off kit for the game, made by manufacturers Macron, which bore the names of every footballer who had played for the club.

[22] Club record goalscorer Neil Harris returned to Millwall for a third time as a coach on 23 June 2013 after retiring as a player through injury.

[30] In his first full season in charge, Harris led Millwall to a fourth-place finish in League One and a play-off final at Wembley, which the Lions lost 3–1 to Barnsley.

[42] Rowett inspired a dramatic upturn in form; losing only two matches of his first 15 league games, which saw the 2019–20 season end in an 8th-placed finish, just two points off the play-offs.

Millwall required a win on the final day of the season to secure a play-off spot but gave up a 3–1 lead, losing 4–3 to Blackburn Rovers and eventually finishing 8th.

Since first becoming involved in the club in 2006, he has presided over some of the greatest moments in Millwall's history, and his influence in providing the platform for those was immeasurable...any success moving forward will be in his memory and honour.