Club's bad reputation overshadows 'Scotch' roots

NO football team in Britain has a reputation as tarnished as that of Millwall. It should be no great surprise then, that in an age when Scots are keen to tell the world how wonderful we are - Tartan Day, take a bow - few patriots north of the Border will be making a song and dance about the football club founded by Scots 119 years ago that has reached its first FA Cup final.

It should be a story to warm the heart of those who delight in the ground-breaking exploits of Scotland’s footballing pioneers. The founders of Millwall Rovers, now known as plain old Millwall, were Scotsmen who worked for Morton & Co, a jam and marmalade factory in West Ferry Road on the Isle of Dogs.

The club’s first headquarters were in the rooms of The Islanders pub in Millwall.

The Scottish identity remains in place, although how much of it is misty-eyed myth is a matter of debate. The club’s colours are straightforward enough - blue and white, chosen by the founders for obvious reasons. The shirt badge features a lion rampant, which again seems to be an obvious indication of the club’s roots. However, club historians believe this is a matter of accident rather than design. Even so, it is unlikely that any of the founders, or their successors, would have objected to the symbolic reminder of the old country.

Jumping forward almost 100 years, evidence of a Scottish identity is easy to find. Since 1982, the club has had four Scottish managers (five if you count John Docherty’s two stints separately), as well as the Jimmy Nicholl era, when the Irishman was tempted away from Raith Rovers and promptly set up a Fife clan in south London.

If this had happened at any other club, Millwall would have the affection of the Scottish football supporter. Sadly, the club’s Scottish identity has been bludgeoned by the hooligan element who have ensured that their club does not receive a warm welcome in any town in England. For the FA, Millwall reaching the final of their showpiece tournament will give officials a few sleepless nights at the thought of fans on the rampage as the world watches. Millwall’s reputation is almost matched by Cardiff City, who have attracted an unsavoury element in recent seasons. Holding the FA Cup final in Cardiff while Wembley is rebuilt has never seemed such a bad idea as it does today.

It gets even more frightening. Millwall should now qualify for Europe, and the thought of creating havoc across central Europe will appeal to the knucklehead element who follow the club. It hardly needs saying that there are certain countries where old wounds are likely to be reopened.

It would be stretching a point to say that the club’s modern-day reputation has suffocated its Scottish origins. Every Scottish manager who has occupied the hot-seat has felt the wrath of the supporters’ ire, an experience unlikely to leave the target unshaken. Nicholl’s reign ended with the manager and his "Jock" contingent chased all the way back to Scotland. Current club chairman Theo Paphitis, who took over during the dying days of Nicholl’s reign, branded the Scottish contingent "non-triers". At around the same time, high-profile fan Danny Baker used his radio show to demand that the Scots be sent home. Charming.

In fairness, the Nicholl era had not been a success, and the 1.2 million outlay for Stevie Crawford and Jason Dair did not represent value for money at the time, even if Crawford has gone on to become a regular internationalist. When the club went into administration, they were all shown the door, along with Davie Sinclair, another unlikely signing from Raith Rovers.

Nicholl was under siege by the time he departed, at a time when the atmosphere at the New Den was hostile beyond belief. "I remember walking across the car park after a game to be confronted by fans who were intent on giving me a mouthful," recalled Nicholl a few years later. "I had bitten off more than I could chew."

Apart from Docherty, who had as healthy a relationship with the Millwall fans as is possible - they seem to be at peace now that Dennis Wise is in charge - none of the Scots who have been in charge in recent years can be considered as folk heroes in south London. George Graham, Bruce Rioch and Mark McGhee have all tried to bring success to the club, with varying degrees of unpopularity. Rioch had similar treatment to Nicholl when he took charge for two years in the early 1990s. He almost led the club back into the top flight in 1991, but lost a play-off to Brighton.

John Colquhoun, a Millwall player at the time, later recalled a reserve match at the old Den, when a supporter’s booming voice echoed around the ground, instructing Mr Rioch to "fuck off back to Scotland and make you take the rest of those Scotch twats with you." The fact that Rioch was born in Aldershot and had never lived in Scotland did not seem to count for much. Nor, for that matter, did the club’s Scottish heritage.