#28 Millwall FC (Home, 2003/2004)

14:41 championship , dag and red , football shirt collection , millwall , millwall fa cup shirt , millwall fc , millwall home shirt , millwall west ham , rare football shirt 3 Comments

This is a pretty old one, but it kind of represents the first spirit of my collection. I bought it during a trip to London back in 2004 or 2005, when I had no more than 5 or 6 shirts, and I still love it. Now that I own more than 60, it's great to have a look at my old purchases, and most things didn't change too much.

I headed to Lillywhite's in Picadilly Circus with two clubs in mind: Dag & Red (still got to work this one out) and Millwall. I always liked smaller clubs from London, and Dag & Red was some kind of Championship Manager favourite, and Millwall always fascinated me because of their loyal supporters, and for being an unfancied outfit in a city that has dozens of clubs.

The lads in the shop obviously never heard of Dag & Red. The Daggers were still a small Conference side, quite far away from its League Two/One status of these days. But they did have some Millwall shirts left somewhere. I guess they were glad to sell it, and good for me, it was also quite cheap. I guess it didn't cost me more than 25£, but I really can't remember the final price.

Millwall surprised everyone (except their supporters, I believe) reaching the FA Cup Final in 2004, where they used this shirt. Mine actually seems some kind of special edition launched before the Cup Final:


The sad thing is that Millwall lost 3-0 to Man Utd, but it still was surely a great moment. The Lions also managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup, eventually losing to Hungarian side Ferencvaros (4-2 agg).

There are also many other good things about this shirt. The club logo, for example, changed in 2007, so they're not using the two lions thing anymore.


And here is the new one:
Marketing stuff, probably. And maybe they needed some, as Millwall is frequently associated with hooliganism and other problems. Their "No One Likes Us" song is quite popular, and so is their motto, We Fear no Foe. I must say I love this kind of stuff.

Unfortunetly, Millwall had some hard years after the FA Cup thing. They even played in League One for a couple of years, but are now back in Championship, where they're a few points clear of the relegation zone.

An exciting thing is that local fierce rivals West Ham were relegated, so there are two thrilling matches this season between the two clubs. Things tend to be quite agressive and even a bit crazy, so it's wise to stay away if you're not really into football. Have a look of what usually happens when Millwall and West Ham face each other:


It's still quite impressive how a side that spent so many years away from the top division still has so many (and so passionate) supporters. Hats off or Millwall.

They've been changing kit suppliers in a regular basis, but I must say I was quite impressed with Macron's recent designs:

2010/2011

2011/2012

Not bad, uh? They are now using dark-blue as their home colours, and it looks classy indeed. Mine is still in the old blue-and-white-sleeves-design, by Strikeforce (never heard of them before).



Won't complain, though, as it still looks great.