Post by lennythelion on Mar 1, 2007 17:39:50 GMT
After working hard to shake off their tarnished image, Millwall are getting serious on the pitch as well.
After a chaotic 15-month spell in which the club went through half-a-dozen managers, the Londoners look to have stopped the rot.
The Lions are roaring again and, according to defender Richard Shaw, repairing the damage of recent past.
"Looking from afar and reading about the players they let go, it was quite frightening," Shaw told BBC Sport.
"The club should be in the Championship, but they have no divine right to be there. It's up to us to try and to do that, if not this year then next year."
Millwall's relegation from the Championship at the end of last season did not deter Shaw when he decided to end a 10-year stay with Coventry and look for a club nearer his Surrey home.
The 38-year-old, who had previously spent nine years at Crystal Palace, felt comfortable at The Den from the start, although when Nigel Spackman joined the list of managerial casualties in September, doubts could have surfaced.
"For the players who have been here a few years, like Paul Robinson, Tony Craig and Alan Dunne, I can imagine they must have felt 'here we go again," Shaw said.
"I had only been here a couple of months when the manager went which was a bit of a shock to the system, but we did have a poor start to the season."
He added: "Having said that, the club brought in a dozen to 15 new players over the summer and it will always take time to gel. I felt from day one, even though we had a few bad results, that we had a good set of players.
"And even when we were in the bottom-four I had no doubts that we could get on a run and get into a decent position.
"We were playing well in the majority of games but getting beaten by the odd goal or whatever. With the new players I felt we could turn it round, but you don't get much time."
Despite Shaw's optimism, he admits that a losing run can get disheartening and when Millwall lost for the seventh time in their opening ten games, Spackman departed with the Lions second from bottom of the table.
Willie Donachie was promoted to take on the seemingly poisoned chalice but under the Scot, previously a number-two at Manchester City, Everton, Oldham and Ipswich, Millwall have flourished.
It's nice to look up but we are also well aware that if we come unstuck you can be back around the bottom four
Richard Shaw
"Willie Donachie took over and with the players getting to know each other and their strengths we have shown that we can compete and we are a half-decent team," said Shaw.
"He encourages us to play and treats us like adults and he has brought in players like Neil Harris and Dave Brammer, who have made a big difference.
"Apart from myself, Neil Ardley and Jody Morris there wasn't a great deal of experience so they have proved excellent additions on the pitch and around the dressing room."
Millwall have won half of their league games and lost just eight under Donachie's guidance to climb into mid-table.
With three successive home games to come, even talk of the play-offs has surfaced around the club, where a reported takeover by an American consortium could ease Millwall's financial worries at the same time.
Shaw, however, is too long in the tooth to get carried away. And while he apologies for the one-game-at-time routine, recent back-to-back results of a win at Oldham followed by a 5-2 home defeat by Leyton Orient justify his pragmatism.
"It's nice to look up but we are also well aware that if we come unstuck you can be back around the mix of the bottom four," he said.
"It's such a tight division that you win a couple and you are talking about the play-offs, you lose a couple and you are looking over your shoulder.
"When you win a couple of games you want to come in on a Monday and train and the training ground is a good place to be."
source - bbc sport
After a chaotic 15-month spell in which the club went through half-a-dozen managers, the Londoners look to have stopped the rot.
The Lions are roaring again and, according to defender Richard Shaw, repairing the damage of recent past.
"Looking from afar and reading about the players they let go, it was quite frightening," Shaw told BBC Sport.
"The club should be in the Championship, but they have no divine right to be there. It's up to us to try and to do that, if not this year then next year."
Millwall's relegation from the Championship at the end of last season did not deter Shaw when he decided to end a 10-year stay with Coventry and look for a club nearer his Surrey home.
The 38-year-old, who had previously spent nine years at Crystal Palace, felt comfortable at The Den from the start, although when Nigel Spackman joined the list of managerial casualties in September, doubts could have surfaced.
"For the players who have been here a few years, like Paul Robinson, Tony Craig and Alan Dunne, I can imagine they must have felt 'here we go again," Shaw said.
"I had only been here a couple of months when the manager went which was a bit of a shock to the system, but we did have a poor start to the season."
He added: "Having said that, the club brought in a dozen to 15 new players over the summer and it will always take time to gel. I felt from day one, even though we had a few bad results, that we had a good set of players.
"And even when we were in the bottom-four I had no doubts that we could get on a run and get into a decent position.
"We were playing well in the majority of games but getting beaten by the odd goal or whatever. With the new players I felt we could turn it round, but you don't get much time."
Despite Shaw's optimism, he admits that a losing run can get disheartening and when Millwall lost for the seventh time in their opening ten games, Spackman departed with the Lions second from bottom of the table.
Willie Donachie was promoted to take on the seemingly poisoned chalice but under the Scot, previously a number-two at Manchester City, Everton, Oldham and Ipswich, Millwall have flourished.
It's nice to look up but we are also well aware that if we come unstuck you can be back around the bottom four
Richard Shaw
"Willie Donachie took over and with the players getting to know each other and their strengths we have shown that we can compete and we are a half-decent team," said Shaw.
"He encourages us to play and treats us like adults and he has brought in players like Neil Harris and Dave Brammer, who have made a big difference.
"Apart from myself, Neil Ardley and Jody Morris there wasn't a great deal of experience so they have proved excellent additions on the pitch and around the dressing room."
Millwall have won half of their league games and lost just eight under Donachie's guidance to climb into mid-table.
With three successive home games to come, even talk of the play-offs has surfaced around the club, where a reported takeover by an American consortium could ease Millwall's financial worries at the same time.
Shaw, however, is too long in the tooth to get carried away. And while he apologies for the one-game-at-time routine, recent back-to-back results of a win at Oldham followed by a 5-2 home defeat by Leyton Orient justify his pragmatism.
"It's nice to look up but we are also well aware that if we come unstuck you can be back around the mix of the bottom four," he said.
"It's such a tight division that you win a couple and you are talking about the play-offs, you lose a couple and you are looking over your shoulder.
"When you win a couple of games you want to come in on a Monday and train and the training ground is a good place to be."
source - bbc sport
have to say apart from your blip against us your form has been very good is it all set for a promotion push next season.......?
