George Graham:
‘The Millwall fans reminded me of home. The ground may have been a bit spartan, but I soon realised that the fans were in a different class. In fact, their passion for the game reminded me of my days in Glasgow. The people up there are really fanatical about their football, they eat it and sleep it, and the Millwall fans were exactly the same. That was something I wasn’t used to, because I thought that, in general, Southerners were less passionate. I learned so much.’
Reg Burr, former chairman of the club:
‘Millwall are a convenient coat peg for football to hang its social ills on.’
Marc Ceeste, Professor at Hoegaarden University and Millwall fan:
‘Violence has always been an undercurrent at the club. It is part of the fabric of Millwall life and to deny it is foolishness.’
Peter Simpson, 35, Southend, Essex:
‘It was kicking off all over the place and the police didn’t seem to be able to stop it … there was quite a few injured.’
Skip, Everton:
‘I was in the boy’s pen section of the Gwladys Street Stand the day Millwall came to town. A half-full tin of Party Seven bitter was thrown from the Upper Gwladys Street on to a group of away fans who had bungled their way into the Gwladys Street. This sparked a charge from Millwall causing a hand-to-hand scrap of fists, bottles and sticks. It all felt so bizarre as New Seekers rang out from the Tannoy with the words, “I’d like to teach the world to sing …” Fucking scary they were.
Ben Newton, West Ham fan from Harrow in London:
‘My father had been stretchered away after being hit with a dart in the head.’
Millwall fan:
‘Millwall have been in the top league of violence but bottom leagues at football. When you sign up to follow Millwall, glory is the last thing on your mind.’
QPR fan:
‘I personally had to slide out of the Men’s in the stands when two Millwall hooligans raced in with knives. Didn’t stay around long enough to find out what happened.’
Brighton Boy:
‘We played Millwall and beat them 2–1. Players started fighting on the pitch. A Millwall fan ran on the pitch and drop-kicked our Brighton player Mark Beeney. Fucking mad.’
Fergal O’Brien:
‘I saw a West Ham fan getting punched in the face by a burly, bald man who had a coin between his fist.’
Theo Paphitis:
‘Once again, the thuggish element which sees football as a cover for their violent tendencies has sullied the name of football and Millwall, and brought deep distress to our local community with whom we have close ties. We also wish to express our sympathy to those police officers and horses injured. We have worked tirelessly over the past several years to rid ourselves of the mindless minority.’
Anon:
‘Millwall are not alone in harbouring a hooligan minority, but it is the unrepentant nature of the mob that demands attention and contempt.’
SE4 JW:
‘No one likes the Millwall thugs – and the Millwall thugs do not care.’
Mick Wall:
‘Millwall are seen outside London as the underdogs to the capital’s Premiership giants, the put-upon poor relations tucked away in a working-class corner in the south-east of the city. It is now almost ingrained in the culture of the mob that they can at least cling to their superiority as hooligans to challenge their more illustrious neighbours.’
Chief Executive Andy Ambler:
‘We’ve come a long way in the last 20 years when it was almost commonplace at every game.’
Football League spokesman Ian Christon:
‘There were disgraceful scenes and nobody wants to see that connected with football. We hope the police press charges against the Millwall fans involved and the courts take action to ban these people from football grounds.’
Millwall fan:
‘We took 3,000 up to Maine Road after they threatened us with loads of stuff about what they were going to do after that night at The Den. To avoid getting an escort, about 500 ’Wall got off at Stockport and were milling by that pub near the station. I remember the roundabout coming to a complete standstill and a few lairy Stockport lads getting slapped. Man United came down, too, en route to somewhere and ’Wall chased them back down the hill. It was quite a sight for sleepy old Stockport … and that landlord said it was the best day’s takings he’d ever had and thanked us all and promised he’d go to the Caribbean or some such on it! Millwall then went on their way to Moss Side and marched through without a peep from City fans. Pathetic Mancs. The next time we had Man City, they banned us for some strange reason!’
Wall One:
‘Our behaviour at the 2004 FA Cup Final was exemplary, with the Cardiff police reporting no arrests of any of the Millwall supporters.’
Anon:
‘Harsher Prison sentences because some of them should never be allowed to walk the streets again. And public birching. The current community service punishment is pathetic.’
Michael Hart of the Evening Standard:
‘The club has been successful in combating the hooligan image that has hounded them for nearly two decades. They are unkempt, unfashionable and unloved but are making strident efforts on and off the field to present a more acceptable face to the public.’
Cardiff fan:
‘All of a sudden, we were surrounded by the biggest geezers I had ever seen. They were right in our faces shouting, “Is this a joke? Where’s your big boys?” I was absolutely terrified. We shuffled along and these psychos were all around us, and every now and again they would smack one of us. They were just taking the piss out of us and there was nothing we could do. Dai Ellis jumps out and says: “I’m not having this, let’s do them.” Smack – he’s rolling down the bank getting kicked stupid. The whole thing goes mental and we are trying to fight back but it’s useless.’
West Ham fan:
‘I was walking up and a group of hooligans came for us … the police wanted to help but they were clearly afraid to use force … I am still shaking, I thought I was going to die.’
Birmingham fan:
‘Our 13 coaches take off and I’m falling asleep against the window as we’ve been driving through London for about 15 minutes. All of a sudden the windows on the coach are caving in and we are surrounded by hundreds of Millwall. We’re lying on the floor as more and more bricks hit the coach. Noddy opens the exit and says, “Let’s do ’em.” Balls to that, man, there were millions of them.’
Forest:
‘In the ground, Millwall were in the next enclosure. Panda pop glass bottles were raining down on us, darts were flying through the air and a black pool ball was thrown back and forth all through the game. Millwall were singing “We are evil …” over and over and I was having kittens. The final whistle goes and they let Millwall out and keep us in for 20 minutes. “Here we go,” I think, “we’re dead for sure now.”’
F-Troop:
‘I am not going for some dirty northern ponce to spit all over me … if he spits over me, I’ll put a fucking pint glass in his head. People are scared of us all over England.’