F.A Cup 4th Round - Millwall away

[Des Little]

Train booked.  £13.50 return. Bargain

[freethinker]

I wasn't going to bother posting my experience of the New Den as it was 10 years ago, but since our game has been moved to a Friday night it is now a bit more relevant. I went there with Wolves on a Friday night towards the end of the season in 2002. It was a big game as both teams were in or around the play-off places, so tensions were high.

Getting to the ground was OK - train from London Bridge and lots of police all along the short walk to the stadium so not much potential for trouble. Wolves brought a decent following - the upper tier was sold out and they had the middle of the lower tier too. I got the sense that some Millwall fans consider it as some kind of affront or challenge when an away team has fans in the lower tier.

The corner sections of the lower tier had tarpaulins tied across them to prevent fans moving towards the corners, presumably to keep them out of missile range of the Millwall fans. On both sides of the ground the Millwall fans who had chosen to position themselves as close as possible to the away fans were exactly what you'd expect - foul, nose-like urchins who spent the entire 90 minutes baiting the away fans.

Anyway if I remember correctly Millwall won 1-0, which you might expect would lead to a quietish time afterwards ... far from it! The Wolves fans were kept in a pen just behind the away end for what seemed like an eternity. There was a helicopter overhead and you could tell something was going on. A few Wolves fans were giving it the 'let us out' bit to the police but I didn't feel too many were enthusiastic to be let out. Eventually the gates opened and we were walked back towards the station with one of the biggest police escorts I've seen - riot police, mounted police and police vans. Every side street we passed was full of Millwall fans battling with the police trying to get at us. I have to say it was quite intimidating and one of those occasions where I'm not ashamed to admit I was very glad of the police presence.

We did make it back to the station unscathed but I dread to think what would have happened if the Met's finest had not been there in such numbers. It was only a few weeks later that Blues were there in the play-offs and that time the Millwall fans really did go mad after the game.

I've also been to the New Den when they played West Ham but that one didn't seem anywhere near as intimidating, probably as I was in the home end and it was on a Sunday morning rather than a Friday night.

My advice to those travelling to this one would be to take the train from London Bridge and stay with the crowd. I wouldn't fancy making my way back to a car in a small group as they are as bad as the noses for picking on stragglers.

[Lambert and Payne]

How many people do you think will go down on the train?

[TonyD]

Looks like it could be a grim night on a number of levels.  What allocation do we have?

[Lambert and Payne]

Looks like it could be a grim night on a number of levels.  What allocation do we have?

Nothing on OS yet, Millwall have announced prices and they have to be agreed with Villa so I'm pretty certain we have details

[Kingthing]

My advice to those travelling to this one would be to take the train from London Bridge and stay with the crowd. I wouldn't fancy making my way back to a car in a small group as they are as bad as the noses for picking on stragglers.

I've seen a video somewhere of a Portsmouth fan getting the shit kicked out of him by a load of Millwall fans (very brave) as he was walking back to his car, not sure how they knew but sound advice not to park close to the ground.

[MonsXI]

How many people do you think will go down on the train?

Im still considering it, I feel guilty I didn't go last night as my son has a 100% away record with Villa and he probably would've made the difference

[villajk]

Assuming the club monitors these sites for the sake of supporter relations, then maybe they can provide an answer as to why a midweek league game immediately after an FA Cup round WASN'T originally scheduled for the Wednesday so that whatever happened in the FA Cup, fans would not be messed about.

There was always the chance of either Villa or our opponents being involved in a live TV game on the Sunday. If we've agreed to play Millwall on Friday rather than mess 30,000 or so fans around on the Tuesday then that's the right decision, but what if Newcastle had beaten Brighton and their home tie with Arsenal or Swansea and had been chosen for TV on Sunday? We all know that the league game would have been put back 24 hours and it would have been tough shit for those fans who book nights off work for games way in advance.
A bit of foresight and sensible planning back in June could have accounted for all options by scheduling Newcastle for Wednesday. The most annoying thing is that there are people picking up a salary for making these decisions.

Paul Lambert prefers Tuesday games.

Does he?  He was asked at the forum by Dcf why we played our midweek games on a Tuesday and Lambert had no idea.

[Dave Clark Five]

My advice to those travelling to this one would be to take the train from London Bridge and stay with the crowd. I wouldn't fancy making my way back to a car in a small group as they are as bad as the noses for picking on stragglers.

That is exactly what I put, particularly in respect of young people. At places like this, you could be outside the ground bedecked top to toe in Millwall colours and they would still know you were Villa. I think the train is safer now from what I have heard but a Friday night makes this one to think about. Me? I am going by coach.

[silhillvilla]

I was on my way home from work on the Friday night of the SHA play off game with Millwall. Got to euston about 430pm and there was a big police prescense. Alsatians Etc and OB with sticks and video cameras . It was then I saw a hoard heading up into the station, it was the Zulus arrived into London ready for Millwall .
They were a rather unpretty site, can only imagine the mayhem later that night. I believe it ended up a full scale riot around New Cross area.

[maidstonevillain]

How can they possibly think that a premier league side playing away at Milwall on friday night could be the safest option?

Coinciding with the London Friday night rush hour.

[Mortimer's Bear]

Speaking as a relatively young man I've never had the pleasure of watching us play Millwall so quite fancy going.

[cheltenhamlion]

Friday? For fucks sake. I won't be back from being threatened with being shot at in South Armagh until the Friday evening.

[eastie]

I take it that it's been moved to Friday for espn?

[Mortimer's Bear]

I take it that it's been moved to Friday for espn?

Or as several bluenoses have suggested at work today, "to get you ready for championship football next season huh huh huh snigger snigger".