Millwall in 2025/26 - Part 1

I've decided to write my Millwall season reviews early this year because we've been particularly good lately! Tomorrow, we're playing Leicester City, with a place already secured in the playoffs, and our highest Championship points tally since 2002, which, coincidentally, was also the last time we were in the playoffs. Let's just hope this time around, it goes even better, and we manage to get promoted...although it might be a bit tricky this season. 

I could not have expected a season like this when it started, though. The previous campaign wasn't all that impressive in my opinion, with flickers of brilliance all too often surrounded by disappointing losses to all the wrong teams. Alex Neil had proven himself to be a capable manager, and several players shone particularly brightly that campaign, like Mihailo Ivanovic and Tristan Crama. But on the whole, I felt like it was just what I had come to expect of Millwall - play well enough to maybe get into the playoffs, but never doing enough to get over the line.

And the summer window wasn't boosting my confidence much. Alright, I'll admit Josh Coburn and Zak Sturge looked like decent buys at the time, and have on the whole paid off in the end. The pick up of Caleb Taylor somehow got past my radar at the time, and he's turned out to be solid at the back with Crama. Looking back, that window was fabulous for Millwall. But losing Japhet Tanganga, a reliable centre-back who would occasionally chip in with a goal, to Sheffield United was a bit of a blow; this was mainly because of who they sold him to, though. Sheffield United, a team fighting for promotion the previous season - it felt like we were destabilising ourselves for no good reason.

The start wasn't the greatest, either. We won against Norwich away - alright, solid - then lost 3-0 to Middlesbrough at home. Then we won against Sheffield United, so that felt great...and then we played Wrexham.

Millwall - Wrexham (30th August)

Millwall - Wrexham

I spoke about this game a while back, but I can't emphasise enough how sluggish Millwall were throughout the whole 90 minutes. It was made even worse by this game being against a newly-promoted side who were stumbling a bit beforehand, and okay, it's Wrexham - media darlings owned by Hollywood giants - that's what hurt most of all. I was even going to write up a satirical post about the game if we won, and, well, we didn't. It was the seeming lack of effort that I remember most from that game, and confirmed to me that this season would, yet again, be grey on the whole.

September began with a draw to local rivals Charlton, and then we got kicked out the EFL Cup by local rivals Crystal Palace. We continued playing inconsistently for the rest of the month, capping it off with a horrific 4-0 defeat to Coventry at home, who in fairness have been brilliant this season, but no excuses can be made for such a margin. 

And then...it clicked. We beat West Brom - consistently battling for playoffs every season West Brom,  may I add - 3-0!  We then edged past QPR, and beat early season high-fliers Stoke 2-0. Come the match against Leicester in late October, we were suffering with football vertigo. Eleven games in, and we were third.

The table before the match against Leicester

Millwall - Leicester City (25th October)

Millwall - Leicester

I also wrote about this game in the same post I linked above, but the main takeaway was that we were simply far better than when we played against Wrexham. I have no idea what Alex Neil had changed with the team to make us so much better at keeping goals out, whilst making us more clinical on the counter-attack, but whatever it was, I'm grateful for it. 

Straight after that match, we went back to being mid. A 4-0 loss to Birmingham City was the lowest note, but the 3-1 loss to Portsmouth not soon after stung as well. We sunk to eighth, on a negative goal difference, and I had no idea how things had managed to fall so easily apart. 

...and then results swung back in the right direction, with wins against Southampton and Bristol City key highlights. Southampton especially was a huge three points, where we battled against the bitter end to eke out a win, thanks to a dramatic last second winner from Crama. A draw against Derby wasn't all too bad, either - we were back in third place, four points off second, and automatic promotion. The promised land of the Premier League, all shiny and commercialised, was coming into full view.  

Fewest goals from all teams fighting for promotion, but combined with a decent defence - as I mentioned earlier, Taylor and Crama were rock-solid - made us hard to beat. And if we were finding it hard at the other end, we could always rely on a worldie by Femi Azeez to win us the game. 

The table before the match against Hull

You can probably guess what happened next. 

Millwall - Hull City (13th December) 

Millwall - Hull

Hull was never going to be an easy game. They've also been overperforming this season, and have been much better at scoring than us. The one thing I didn't expect was how rough it ended up being: Hull scored twice in the opening fifteen minutes, then kept banging on the door for the rest of the match whilst we struggled to do anything interesting. We did score late on, but so did they, and we lost 3-1. Arguably one of our least impressive performances, in a game where, if we were at least a bit awake, we would have taken at least one point. An Azeez red card didn't help, too.

It was a game so bad, I've since lost all memories of it. I do remember an uncertain sense of dread going into our next games, since we were in the middle of an injury crisis, and none of our upcoming opponents looked easy to beat. Our arch-nemesis Blackburn Rovers beat us 2-0, the fuckers - they've been terrible this season.

And then it was the big one. The one that would define our season, for better or worse.

Millwall - Ipswich Town (26th December)

Yes, this was a Boxing Day clash. I really chose to spend my holiday like this. 

Millwall - Ipswich

Ipswich were newly relegated, invested boldly in the summer, and looked very good for their money. But even if our past two games weren't the best, if we won this game, we'd shoot back above them.

Instead, we got a drab draw in miserable weather. Very defensive on the whole, with neither side taking their chances, and I was nervous and uncomfortable throughout. We were even a bit lucky to get a draw in the end, since a more alert Ipswich could have torn us to pieces. Then again, they didn't!

We ended the year with a vital 2-1 win against Bristol City, only a few days later. Halfway through the season, we were back in the playoffs in 5th, four points off the autos. Coventry were running away with the league near the top, and our main playoff rivals at the time included Bristol City, Preston, QPR, and Stoke. You might not be aware of any of that, though, because if the media ever mentioned the Championship, it was about Wrexham. And okay, I might be a bit bitter, but on the whole, Millwall's season has barely been covered by major news outlets. And yeah, no one likes us and that, but I wish we were liked at least a bit more than Wrexham, you know?

Rant aside, the first half of the season, though unsteady, was on the whole magnificent. For the first time in a very long time, we could legitimately dream of promotion. We were in the driver's seat. 

The table at the end of the year