Goodbye &#8216;Old&#8217; Den; Hello &#8216;New&#8217; Den: 30 years on &#8211; but what did fans think of the move at the time?

By John Kelly IT was only the proverbial stone’s throw away but it was a mighty leap into the future for Millwall Football Club. From Cold Blow Lane to Zampa Road is just around half a mile, but in that short distance the Lions were leaving so much behind. The records, for a start. The most home league goals scored in a season, 87, in the Third Division South in 1927–28. The 59 games unbeaten from August 1964 to 14 January 1967. When Millwall went unbeaten at home in the 1971-72 Division Two season they became the first side to achieve that feat in four different divisions (1927–28 in Division Three South; 1964–65 in Division Four; 1965–66 in Division Three). The only two seasons in the top flight when the Lions reached the pinnacle of English football on October 1, 1988, peering down on Liverpool, Manchester United, West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. They were back on top in August 1989 but that’s as good as it’s ever got. Then there was the intimidating feel of the place. The sinister WELCOME TO MILLWALL F.C. sign on the corrugated walls. The home supporters moshing down the concrete terraces towards the fence between them and the pitch. It wasn’t just intimidating for away players. Alex Rae tells a story that on his debut, as he was about to take a throw-in, he felt a finger jab into his back from one of his own fans. On your toes, son. “The old Den was an interesting place to play,” Rae said during a pre-match Legends Tour at The Den in 2017. “When I came over for the first time, I thought that I might as well do a u-turn, because it looked horrendous! It was falling to bits.” Millwall were at The ‘Old’ Den for 83 years. They played their first Football League game there against Bristol Rovers in August 1920, winning 2-0. Their last game there was against the same opponents in front of 15,821 supporters, a 3-0 defeat in the First Division (now Championship). The new stadium, the first all-seater ground in the UK at a cost of £16million, was opened by Labour Party leader John Smith on August 4, 1993. The first match was against Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon, a 2-1 defeat. There was an inauspicious start to the history of the stadium in league football, too, as 10,273 – just over half the 20,146 capacity – turned up to see their side beaten 4-1 at home by Southend United. At least there was some pride for United States international John Kerr Jr. who put his name forever in the record books with the Lions’ first competitive goal at their new home. (Kerr had also scored against Bobby Robson’s Sporting.) The prospect of moving to a new stadium is one that Millwall fans have had cause to consider over the past few years. The compulsory purchase order that Lewisham Council wanted to go through with would, the club said, have forced them to leave South Bermondsey. The club last season submitted a planning application for a proposed new training centre in West Kingsdown. Some supporters will wonder if this is part of a wider plan to relocate the entire club. It’s a question that splits the fan base, a lot of whom might consider it more convenient if the stadium was in Kent. But what were the feelings 30 years ago as the club planned for the much shorter move? It feels timely to explore that now, as just under three decades later, the Lions play their first home game this season at The Den tomorrow evening, against Reading in the first round of the EFL Cup. We spoke to four long-time supporters about the move three decades ago: Club historian Dave Sullivan Michael Lloyd (Deptford, now Devon) John Lloyd (No relation to Michael. Brought up in Grove Park and moved to Greenwich in 1975) Chris Bethell What were your feelings when you heard the club were moving to a new ground in the early 1990s? Dave Sullivan : As much as I had an affinity with The ‘Old’ Den, the move was needed as Cold Blow Lane couldn't be expanded and had passed it sell-by date. I was at the [last] game, and a very distressing day it turned out to be. Not only was the 3-0 defeat to an already relegated Bristol Rovers bad enough, Malcolm Allen failed with a penalty which really summed up Millwall's dismal display. The game was stopped twice with two fan invasions and their really disgraceful actions. It was touch and go whether the game would finish. Not a day to remember with any fondness. I had a piece of turf [from the old pitch], but it didn't last long with our cat around. Michael Lloyd : Mixed. I was disappointed but it was inevitable. I always preferred terraces, especially when you could stand behind the goal we were attacking, then walk around to the other end at half time. As our house was in Deptford, and my grandparents' place was the other side of The Den, my dad used to cut through from the Cold Blow end, and I could get a glimpse of the pitch and the goalposts were taken down in the close season. As a boy I went to watch scrambling (loved the smell) and stock cars, and my uncles used to go to the greyhound racing. In the wasteland around The Den we found where they used to burn unsold programmes. Me and my mates all had loads of signed copies of Millwall vs. Bournemouth. When we couldn’t afford to go to a game, we’d stand and see what we could from outside the ground at ‘Jews Hill’, and knew that wasn’t going to be possible again at a new ground. The walk back home along Cold Blow, under the arches, was often a noisy treat after a win. Any motorists coming the wrong way after a defeat regretted it! John Lloyd : Having been regulars at the Cold Blow Lane end of the old ground for over 20 years, we knew we had to go elsewhere if we wanted to have a ground that would be fit for the new all-seater stadia that were so vital in response to the Hillsborough and Bradford disasters. (I saw the Lions play league games in both grounds very shortly before each of those disasters.) Chris Bethell : Sad. I grew up there from child to man when I started taking my own kids there. I had seen some of the games in the ‘60s and ‘70s that are Millwall folklore: 40,000 crowds and 59 league games unbeaten at home; promotions and unfortunately relegations. But the ground was sadly decaying and the cost was unaffordable to restore it to top-level football that we had just tasted in the First Division. When the grants and land price came in and allocated an area down the road it was inevitable that we would move. Was there a fear it wouldn't be the 'real' Millwall anymore? That The 'Old' Den was so rough and ready and intimidating, the new ground would almost be too 'nice' for the opposition players and fans? Was there opposition to it? DS : It was fairly hostile, if I am honest, and one fan I know said for him Millwall died that day. But the initial opposition to the move soon ebbed away, and as you know the 'new' place can be very intimidating on occasions. ML : Definitely. Real or imagined, the atmosphere wouldn’t be the same. The intimidation factor was massive, away fans hated it, especially from posher parts (i.e. 95 per cent of the country). I can’t recall any opposition, just nostalgic regret. There was no social media and I can’t remember any fanzines at the time but I’d moved away from the area by then. Many of us who had been to away games appreciated better facilities. And all of my families’ houses had been knocked down and benefitted from upgrades in the previous 20 years. (At 16, we finally had an inside toilet and a bathroom, so modernisation was a thing.) When Gordon Jago was manager he met players away from the ground and wanted to rename Cold Blow Lane, so thought we might put new recruits off. I often wondered what players like Barry Bridges, Frank Saul, Keith Weller and Derek Possee made of the ground and Southwark Park coming from the likes of Chelsea and Spurs. JL : We felt the new ground was close enough to the old one so that it still felt like home. I actually played Sunday morning football at both the old park in Zampa Road and Deptford Park. We also felt that there was nothing so wonderful about the disgusting facilities at The ‘Old’ Den. And we were certain it’s the players/supporters who create the atmosphere, whoever and wherever we play. CB : No opposition as far as I recall. The new ground was full for the opening game against Sporting Lisbon. Fans took time to adjust but on that night it was like swapping the old Anglia for a new Jaguar. Toilets with hand dryers and sinks. Seats all the way round. Concourses for food and drink, a carpark and four exits. But no walking around the ground inside, sitting with people you never knew. It had to grow on you, and most fans only know The ‘New’ Den because of the time that has passed. Can you remember your last game at the old ground? DS : I mentioned I was at the Bristol Rovers game. My first-ever live game was versus Palace in the old Division Three South January 1957. Millwall won 3-0. I was nine years old. When I was 11 and playing the game myself I started going regularly from October 1958, starting with Hartlepool United in the newly formed Division Four - a 3-2 home win. ML : Of course. I went with my cousin. Apart from getting on the pitch and taking some turf, the atmosphere was great, along with the bizarre spectacular of a bloke dressed in a lion costume climbing on the stand roof. CB : Yes, I remember the last game, I was with a group of friends and doing a bit of videoing. I was lucky as I was walking around the pitch doing a bit for the programme. The crowd were enjoying themselves invading the pitch, it went on forever – not many left at the end. And your first game at the new stadium, the atmosphere, how did you and your friends/family feel? DS : It was the opening of the stadium versus Sporting Lisbon, with one the best 10 atmospheres I've experienced. My kids at the time loved it. ML : Interestingly couldn’t tell you who we played but I think it was as I expected it to be and there was a better chance of getting out of the toilet with dry shoes. Still a bit of the 'Wall mentality – nobody was sitting in the seats numbered on their ticket. JL : I was amused at the time when the supporters committee were interviewed about the new ground just after it opened. They were asked about the new modern facilities which they liked, but one committee member had a reservation. When asked what it was, he said “the only thing wrong with the new ground is that they’ve put a roof on the away end”! CB : The first game In The ‘New’ Den was loud. It was a test and the atmosphere was people rushing around like tourists visiting a stadium that wasn’t theirs, trying to take it all in before it disappeared. It was a lot like exploring to see as much as possible before the game started. I was lucky as I was asked to do a ground tour for some fans the next week, so I had been behind the scenes. I did four sell-out ground tours. Did you or anyone you know say they wouldn't attend games at the new stadium and stick to it or eventually change their minds? ML : Nobody that I knew. My dad and uncle had become season-ticket holders at The ‘Old’ Den and were used to seats, and by now I was taking my own sons along and the new ground was fine for this. CB : No, because all my mates were too nosey! They all wanted to see what they achieved because they were watching it grow – a lot of fans were employed in the building of it. Fans who had companies worked in the interior and advertised around the ground. Season-ticket sales rose and the Junior Lions had a 2,000 following. Are you still a Den regular? ML : I got out of Deptford soon as I could and am now in Devon. Inevitably I have fewer family to visit so only get there once or twice a season. It’s a shame there’s fewer away games now in the south-west, Bristol City the closest. But my grandson out near St Albans is nearly six so perhaps I’ll get him down there this season. I think I’m well bedded-in with the new ground, it’s fully part of the identity of the club. CB : I’m a season-ticket holder, one of seven. My family are with me at most games. I am one of the team that now produce the match-day programme and enjoying its success. I meet a lot of people around the ground and the banter hasn’t changed. What would be your reaction if Millwall said they were leaving South Bermondsey and moving near where the training ground is? DS : It would be an inconvenience, as I don't drive anymore. I would go for the weekend games but would give the midweek fixtures a miss. ML : It feels too much like a franchise-type move, I wouldn’t see it working. But...the club survived a move across the Thames in its early days. But no, there’s south of London – we’re Sarf London. From dockers to yuppie heartland, from jellied eels to prawn sandwiches...an aspiration too far. Also, with all the regeneration furore, much was focused on the importance of the local community to Millwall, and vice-versa, so this would be an unrepairable betrayal. CB : I would be devastated. But although the trip like many back to Bermondsey is a day out, I’m too curious not to go and see the outcome. Also like many, I have now moved and am in the middle, but a lot of the support are in Kent now. Transport would be a main factor, trains and parking. But if other London clubs can remain in their areas it shouldn’t be an option. Images courtesy of Chris Bethell

Goodbye ‘Old’ Den; Hello ‘New’ Den: 30 years on – but what did fans think of the move at the time?

The Lions played their first competitive game at their new stadium in this month in 1993

This is premium content for subscribers only

PREVIEW: Millwall vs. Reading – Lions start cup campaign against hapless Royals

Family ‘desperate’ for answers five years after their little boy died in Deptford fire

Stay Connected

Popular Articles

Featured Articles

USEFUL PAGES

LEGAL