Millwall in trouble?

[BetterCallSaul]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/05/millwall-admit-council-scheme-leave-lewisham

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

Not really news, we all know if the land grab goes ahead we'll be looking at moving somewhere in the Kent border areas. At least Barney Ronay is doing a bang up job of keeping everyone informed of the situation.

 

[BetterCallSaul]

Posted it as it's the first I've heard of this as a thing

 

[Techno Natch]

Yeah I just saw this too bcs. So what are Millwall doing about it? What can be done to stop it? At the very least there needs to be some sort of effort to stop it from happening.

I know that Millwall aren't the most loved club but as the topic of gentrification and pushing out of culture is quite hot in London at the moment I think they'd get a lot of support.

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

Check out some of the other articles on the situation on the OP's link, plenty of information there.

Really, nothing can be done. We own the stadium and the community centre next to it, but the council owns the land it stands on, so if they say they want to do something else with it, we're shit out of luck. Our chairman has his own plans for the area, but isn't convinced the council gave them a fair shake in lieu of this shady Renewal company (who just happen to be chaired by a former member of Lewisham council, hmm).

It's as simple as if Lewisham council want the land, we're out, and given how much work in the borough the club does, it's a massive kick in the teeth.

Further to the gentrification point, many of the fans have been pushed out of the area into the surrounding counties (primarily Kent) in a similar fashion, hence the idea of building the new place there, should it be necessary.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Couldnt happen to a nicer club.

 

[Bobbin']

I've been kept up to date on this fairly regularly through a mate at work.

I was under the impression that the council were now backtracking, claiming they were unaware that it would be detrimental to the club's academy or something? And that's why this latest meeting was pushed back.

Absolutely disgusting from Lewisham council. Millwall come in for a lot of stick but they are a fantastic community club in their local areas and played a huge part in campaigning to save Lewisham hospital. Disgraceful lack of reciprocal loyalty.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Couldnt happen to a nicer club.

That is a very un-modlike post.
This proposed deal with Renewal exemplifies the worst aspects of the Blairite-era public/private regeneration schemes that used to be so prevalent in the 90s. I'm sure that there are enough Millwall fans who still live within the borough to punish the present council administration at the ballot box in 2018.

 

[GodsGift]

You'd think Sadiq Khan would intervene in something like this?

 

[Bobbin']

You'd think Sadiq Khan would intervene in something like this?

He's a complete wanker. Still can't believe fellow Londoners voted him in.

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...rotecting-the-den-from-property-a3337946.html

September they appealed to him for assistance and as far as I know, he hasn't done anything yet.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Sadiq is living up to his lack of principles and general slipperiness. He got voted in because Zac Goldsmith was a terrible candidate (although 99% of Tories are anyway) who acquiesced to fronting a disgusting, racist campaign for the mayoralty.
I bet if this situation concerned Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea he would be heavily involved in ensuring that they would not be forced out of their historic area.

 

[THE LAST WALTZ]

Millwall belongs in South London.
It is Bermondsey/Lewisham and that glitz.
Love or hate Millwall there is no denying that it is very much a local, community club with it's own very special identity.
Let's hope that the fans and the club win through because at the end of the day that is all clubs like ours have...the fans.

Plus we don't want the bastards anywhere near Kent!

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

despite the area being a bit shit, we'd really prefer to stay where we are too. I'm sure not only yourselves, but the likes of Dartford and Gravesend would be less than impressed with another neighbour

 

[rudebwoyben]

I think creating a Millwall FC party on the lines of the Valley party that Charlton Athletic supporters formed in the late 80s to contest the 2018 local elections would be a good step. That Valley party gained a lot of votes in the 1990 local elections in Greenwich and was instrumental in making the council help Charlton move back there.

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

It'd be tricky, the current demographics of Lewisham borough are vastly different to Greenwich in the 90s. Not impossible by all means, but a tougher ask.

 

[rudebwoyben]

It'd be tricky, the current demographics of Lewisham borough are vastly different to Greenwich in the 90s. Not impossible by all means, but a tougher ask.

It's very true that large parts of London have changed a lot demographically in the last 25 years. Do the club or the trust (do you have one?) have any details of where the fanbase live so that if need be certain wards could be targeted?
Alternatively, the Green Party has a lot of support in Lewisham and a couple of council seats IIRC. I'd imagine that they'd be pretty sympathetic to Millwall's plight and hostile to this sort of top-down unaccountable regeneration scheme.

 

[Lancs@(Bantam)]

Probably be a good thing as maybe they would shake off some of the brainless idiots who follow them.

 

[DarkSithLord]

That is a very un-modlike post.
This proposed deal with Renewal exemplifies the worst aspects of the Blairite-era public/private regeneration schemes that used to be so prevalent in the 90s. I'm sure that there are enough Millwall fans who still live within the borough to punish the present council administration at the ballot box in 2018.

My apologies but I have no time whatsoever for Millwall.

 

[Murphy]

My apologies but I have no time whatsoever for Millwall.

So you'd rather see a community club die off and be forced out of it's home by a bunch of people who have no interest in local values and are there solely to make profit from the land, not giving one ounce of toss about the local area?

Cool.

 

[Lancs@(Bantam)]

So you'd rather see a community club die off and be forced out of it's home by a bunch of people who have no interest in local values and are there solely to make profit from the land, not giving one ounce of toss about the local area?

Cool.

Yes definitely

 

[GodsGift]

My apologies but I have no time whatsoever for Millwall.

A pretty sad view.

I dislike several clubs but I don't want to see them booted out of their own community ffs.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Just like with the Checkatrade Trophy travesty business, people have to look at the bigger picture. here. This is the sort of situation that could threaten many small and mid-sized football clubs in the big cities.

 

[Murphy]

Yes definitely

Incredible.

 

[DarkSithLord]

So you'd rather see a community club die off and be forced out of it's home by a bunch of people who have no interest in local values and are there solely to make profit from the land, not giving one ounce of toss about the local area?

Cool.

I would be absolutely devastated for any other club and I mean ANY other club but I really find it difficult to care about Millwall.

 

[S74Blade]

If there's a group of fans I wouldn't want to piss off it would be Millwall

I agree with the Labour councillor who said that Millwall had been part of the culture and history of Lewisham for over 100 years. It will never happen, Millwall out of Lewisham or South East London wouldn't be Millwall. Having said that what percentage of their fan base lives in South East London ? We're led to believe up here that so called "white flight" has changed huge swathes of London demographically and culturally e.g., Gentrification and Ethnically

 

[The Reverend Skyblue]

How any fan can wish that another club would die out appals me.
Millwall have some brain dead fans as we know but every club has brain dead morons also, and I mean every club.
Millwall do a lot of great work in their community, as does every club even the my pile of shit I follow, just have a look into what they do ,as you should your own club.
The look on the faces of the youngsters when they come face to face with their local hero is truely inspiring and that's not to mention all the other stuff they do
They have a great history and represent their diverse community well, ignore yours and their moronic fans and actually speak to the normal ones and they have some great fans.
I wouldn't wish any harm on any other club, bar a relegation or two at most for Leicester and Villa would be nice, but extinction never

 

[Murphy]

I would be absolutely devastated for any other club and I mean ANY other club but I really find it difficult to care about Millwall.

I don't actively care for Millwall itself. I have no affinity to them and I recognise that a group (albeit minor) aren't the nicest of people. BUT, stuff like this should not be allowed to happen. Our football clubs are one of the last bastions of community that we have in this country, and in London, a place where the community has been completely ripped apart through gentrification and rising house prices etc, to lose something that IS the community, would just be horrendous. If there was something positive being put there in its place such as affordable housing, a school or a hospital I could maybe understand. But the land is going to private developers who are just looking to make a quick buck out of the place with flats that they can sell at an exorbitant rate.

They [and by extension the council] probably don't want Millwall there because of what it connotes. It's grubby, an eyesore and lets face it, we football fans aren't the sort of people that an enterprising council with aims of attracting global investment or just money in general, want around. And that's why Millwall fans and football supporters in general should stand up to it.

 

[Lancs@(Bantam)]

I bet the council can't wait to get shut

 

[rudebwoyben]

If there's a group of fans I wouldn't want to piss off it would be Millwall

I agree with the Labour councillor who said that Millwall had been part of the culture and history of Lewisham for over 100 years. It will never happen, Millwall out of Lewisham or South East London wouldn't be Millwall. Having said that what percentage of their fan base lives in South East London ? We're led to believe up here that so called "white flight" has changed huge swathes of London demographically and culturally e.g., Gentrification and Ethnically

Lewisham is a very diverse borough but on the other hand Millwall have managed to attract some new support from the communities that have settled in Lewisham. The fanbases of the lower division London clubs are still pretty white but I have noticed a change at Barnet in the past few years and I think the same is true of the other small London clubs. Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea actually have a pretty diverse mixture of people in their crowds on matchday nowadays.

 

[GFCSludge]

Yay, a proper Kent derby....