Millwall’s battle to save The Den from Lewisham Council’s disgraceful Compulsory Purchase Order affects every club in the UK
The South London club could be forced to move 75 miles to the Kent coast if they lose their battle with the local government
WATCHING their team destroy £42million of alleged football talent, Millwall’s fans delivered a rendition of their famous ’no one likes us, we don’t care’ chant.
On this occasion, the passionate message was not only aimed at their traditional rivals of West Ham, Crystal Palace and Charlton along with all the other haters.
If we are being honest, the list is not particularly short.
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Yet the anger, frustration and resentment from Lions supporters is now being aimed at a more dangerous enemy and one from within.
Step forward Lewisham Council.
It is a dark, strange and worrying story.
Any football fan who thinks it is funny that Millwall could be relocated 75 miles to the Kent coast should stop and think for a second because it could be their club.
Maybe one day, it will be. Millwall will not be the last team which is forced into a corner by an organisation they once trusted — and one they campaigned with heavily to save Lewisham Hospital A&E department.
This Wednesday will see the latest episode of a story which is now forcing the club to think about that worst-case scenario of leaving the London Borough of Lewisham.
At the very least, it is going to have a massive impact on their day-to-day running.
The council are set to approve a Compulsory Purchase Order which will force Millwall to sell the long-hold lease on the land around their ground back to Lewisham Council, who will then offload it to the housing developers.
At first, the mechanics of the Bermondsey ‘regeneration’ project around Millwall’s ground just seemed odd.
The Lions offered to buy the land at a higher price but Lewisham, bizarrely, chose to go with the developer Renewal, which is controlled by offshore companies with mysterious owners and whose plan involves 2,400 homes.
The elected Mayor Sir Steve Bullock is banned from sitting with his cabinet due to a declared interest. He sits on the board of a Renewal company.
The council presence is now led by the unelected chief executive Barry Quirk, a former colleague of Renewal’s CEO Mushtaq Malik.
Renewal, which has no prior track record in regeneration schemes, was also set up and originally part-owned by Dave Sullivan, the previous Mayor of Lewisham.
Sullivan insists he no longer has any role with the company, which is owned by two anonymous offshore trusts based in the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands.
If Millwall lose the land around The Den, the club’s award-winning community trust — which has won by friends and admirers within the Football League — will be homeless.
They also believe their commercial operations would be under threat and the academy would not be able to function.
The AMS Millwall supporters’ organisation has led the fight on behalf of the club’s fans.
Radio presenter Danny Baker, a lifelong Lions fan, over-stepped the mark.
He tweeted: “I hereby bring a hex down on @Lewisham Council & Renewal their greasy vampiric partners. May you be ill. May you have cancer as I had cancer.”
Outside the ground, a banner reads: “We forget nothing, we forgive no one. You money-grabbing c***s.” Inside the ground on Saturday, another banner read: ‘Say no to CPO’.
So, it looks as though the Lions will lose on Wednesday and the council will get their CPO.
The South East London club are likely to appeal and then, you would hope, it will go to a public enquiry.
Therefore, Neil Harris’ team reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup is an extremely good thing.
It keeps the spotlight on the 2004 finalists.
Steve Morison, Shaun Cummings and Shane Ferguson goals secured a deserved win over Bournemouth, whose boss Eddie Howe made 11 changes and was roundly condemned for it.
Cummings said: “We’re trying to focus on what we as players have to do on the pitch. We know what is going on but we have a job to do.”
We should all hope that the public outcry will continue to make Lewisham Council squirm in their seats despite their insistence on what appears to be a scandalous decision.
The Barnsley families forced to flee when Millwall fans broke through a police cordon at the League One play-off final at Wembley in May will not care.
You cannot blame them.
But any football fan who has visited The Den and enjoyed the unique atmosphere — albeit at times hostile — should hope this is a fight that Millwall actually wins.
Morison said: “Obviously we hear bits and pieces. What that club does in the community — it wins awards every year — is amazing. It has done it for 25 years.
But it could be taken away because someone has decided to sell it to someone who not many people know much about.
“What is going on under the club’s nose is an utter disgrace.”
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