MFU Press releases

MFU Meeting August 17th 2005 – Statement 19/8/05

The second meeting of the Millwall Fans United (MFU) group took place at the Barnaby pub on Ilderton Road on the evening of August 17th 2005.

The MFU is saddened by the recent resignations of Beverley Fenn and Jim Webb from the leadership of the Millwall Supporters Club (MSC) and wishes to extend its thanks and appreciation for all of their effort, time and hard work in what has been a largely thankless task. We feel that it indicative of the poor relationship between the management of Millwall FC and its paying customers – the fans – that matters have come to this.

Whilst the MFU welcomes the dialogue opened up with acting Millwall FC Chairman Theo Paphitis, it remains obvious that dramatic changes in the whole ethos of the club are required.

The current situation appears to be that the current board is hopelessly divided and the acting Chairman wishes to leave at the earliest opportunity. The MFU wishes to see the current uncertainty ended.

More than anything else, Millwall FC requires long term stability and imaginative leadership. The MFU intends to engage with – and offer support to - any person, group or entity that will help achieve that aim.

A second meeting with Theo Paphitis is planned for September in which he will be pressed on progress generally. An open account of this meeting will be reported back to all Millwall fans afterward.

END.

MFU and Theo - The Lions Trust view

Meeting held at The Den (2nd August 2005)
The meeting was generally productive and definitively worthwhile. Theo put his hands up to several shortcomings, accepting that, with the benefit of hindsight, decisions could have been different and things might have panned out better.

Some important principals have been accepted though, most importantly that the wider fan communities and not just the MSC have some value. This is the first time that The Lions Trust has been accepted as deserving a voice.

It is accepted that marketing activity has not been as effective as it could be and much more could be done. Whether resources can be made available remains to be seen.

It is also accepted that the current "them and us" relationship between the club and its fans isn't helping. I think the club accepts that we must all work together to achieve stability and success and that there are opinions outside the club management that are valid. I also accept that the club staff and management feel under siege from some of the fans more extreme criticisms.

From here we must put some action behind the words. The proposed meeting in September should make that happen.

I think that most people accept that last season we took a bigger gamble than usual and it didn't work. I personally feel a bit more reassured about club in the longer term though, we're not facing administration, we do have more ambition than lower division survival and we do have ways that it may be achieved.

I got a feeling from the meeting that several ideas proposed by MSC in the past hadn't been acted on because of a lack of staff time at the club. If this is true, and the current staff are unable to take on more areas of responsibility then the club needs more staff.

If the club wanted to, these holes could be filled with temporary, part time or even volunteer staff from within the fan base.

So now let's see how we can collectively start to make things better.

ENDS

Millwall Fans Group's Unite
MILLWALL SUPPORTERS' GROUPS UNITED IN CONCERN

Friday 29th July 2005 12pm
Following the sacking of Steve Claridge, representatives from the official Millwall Supporters' Club, The Lions Trust, the Millwall Independent Supporters' Association, the fanzines The Lion Roars and No-One Likes Us, and the websites House of Fun, Millwall Online, Millwall Mad and Millwall Maniacs, all met to discuss the current situation at the club. Such a combined meeting of supporter representation is unprecedented in Millwall's history.
This combined group will refer to itself as Millwall Fans United or MFU.

All of the supporters groups of MFU are unanimous. We are deeply concerned about how our club is being run. We feel it is being grossly mismanaged and Steve Claridge's departure is only one in a litany of misguided managerial decisions at board level that have occurred over the past months.

MFU welcomes the statement by Theo Paphitis, who currently appears to be acting as the senior board member, that he is willing to meet with representatives of MFU to discuss the current situation at the Den. We look forward to a frank and open dialogue and dramatic changes in the very near future.

ENDS