THINKING about Millwall today got me reminiscing about my travels to the old Den back in the later 70’s and early 80’s and the sense of foreboding everytime you would had to climbing on a coach or train.
Of every ground I have ever visited, the ‘Old Den’ was by far the scariest and didn’t help with the number of fans willing to travelling. My first trip was December 1978 just a year after the infamous Panorama programme 'F Troop, Treatment and the Half-Way Line' and of eight who said they were going only two of us boarded the coach for the trip.
The coach was not full of harden hooligans, but old faces we would see week in week out and a few curious who had seen the broadcast, a bit like me I suppose.
When the programme seller offers you violence you just know you are in another world. A veteran told us to stay away from the toilets and stick together, don’t wander off unless you have a death wish. The afternoon was somewhat defused with the home team winning and the quietness of the Cardiff fans, any show of support would result in the mass turning of Millwall fans heads watching you. It was like they were waiting for you to over step the mark, and if you did, they would be having you.
It was only third win of the season with them going into the game with the home team bottom of the table. The win didn’t lift them off the bottom and found themselves relegated at the end of the season.
Panorama 1977 Part 1
F Troop, Treatment and the Half-Way Line
Panorama 1977 Part 2
Panorama 1977 Part 3
Panorama 1977 Part 4
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