Pitch in for Millwall

The Lions Trust recently contacted both the club and Lewisham Council regarding buying the pitch at Millwall. 

Unfortunately whilst Steve Bullock was prepared to discuss the plan and was generally receptive, the club have dismissed it out of hand.

The Trust's response to Heather Rabbatts, Stewart Till and Steve Bullock:

Dear Heather, Steve and Stewart,

Thank you each for your replies to our recent contact regarding Millwall fans taking over the lease of the pitch.

I would especially like to thank Mayor Steve Bullock for his support and warmth to the idea. It is heartening to know that the freehold of the ground at least will be retained by Lewisham Council and that it will remain as a community facility.

With regard to the club's response, I regret to say that I find it a disappointingly short-sighted view. There was much to be gained here and we see this as a wasted chance to build bridges with the Millwall support.

This idea will remain a long term aim of The Lions Trust, as will our core aim of representing the club's shareholders and fans generally in the activities of the company.

Given the present perilous financial and league situation in which we find ourselves though, The Lions Trust does not wish to isolate the fans from the club still further. Now is a time for all of us to pull together. We will therefore let this matter pause here for the time being pending future developments.

Finally we welcome the opportunities for further meetings regarding the regeneration scheme as undertaken at our meeting last Saturday by Heather. Our fans do not deserve to be taken for granted as they have on many past occasions. I hope that we can work with the club to allay such fears on this and many other issues.

We look forward to further meetings in the weeks and months ahead.

Yours

Bob Asprey
Chair
The Lions Trust

Feature from the Southwark News:

Lewisham mayor Steve Bullock has vowed to open discussions with Millwall about the prospect of fans part-owning the Den.

The ‘News’ reported last week how Lions die-hards want to secure the future of the Den by taking over a sub-lease the stadium.

Fans from the Lions Trust, fearing that the venue may be sacrificed as part of the club’s regeneration programme, want to set up a money-raising venture between supporters to take over the ownership of the pitch – providing Millwall FC with additional cash at the same time as safeguarding the Den’s future.

Millwall’s long-term lease of the stadium is under Lewisham Council’s freehold.

And while the mayor of Southwark’s neighbouring authority, Steve Bullock, insists supporters have no need to worry about the future of the Den, he plans to hold talks with the club about the pitch idea.

He said: “Lewisham Council is the freeholder and I am very clear that we would not countenance the stadium being changed to anything other than what it is now – a sports stadium.

“That is an assurance I can give to supporters. As for the specific proposal about the pitch it is an interesting idea I am keen to look at alongside the club.

“It certainly sounds like something we can assist with and we will endeavour to do so.

“Because there are proposals for a big regeneration scheme around the ground it might not be a bad idea as, understandably, supporters are going to have concerns.

“I have not seen the club’s reply to the proposal so it has to be a three-way decision between ourselves, the club and fans.”

Millwall, who have yet to comment on the possibility of sub-leasing the pitch, can be of benefit to the whole south Bermondsey community if the regeneration plans come off, according to Mr Bullock.

“This is an area of south London which, at the moment is grotty and run down,” he added. “But there are lots of opportunities to improve it and the ideas that are emerging from Millwall look very exciting to me.

“The club could be instrumental in making something that could create employment and housing. In that way the club is seeking to almost behave in a socially responsible way.

“It is not about exploiting the club’s landholding to make a quick buck, it is about the club using its position to put something back into the local community.

“Apart from the top half dozen football clubs in the country, no football team is on a terribly stable financial footing.

“A significant development around the ground would add to Millwall’s stability and be quite a big plus.

“That is exactly what Chelsea have tried to do. They got other income from around the ground and a club like Millwall has to be at the heart of a successful enterprise so there are income streams other than directly from the football club. This must be good for the long term health of the club.”

However, Mr Bullock has warned that there are several obstacles for the club to hurdle before this stage can be reached.

“I know enough about regeneration schemes to realise that you have to do an awful lot of hard work,” he said.

“The easy bit is having a good design. The difficult part is getting everyone together because we have a lot of different landholders near the stadium.

“I can only say from the experience of our own town centre scheme in Lewisham that’s been brewing for five years.

“Only now, after all this time, have we reached the stage of submitting a final planning application.

“There are a lot of people you have to get together and deal with. There is the London Assembly, partners in the work and the developers who are actually going to build the thing.

“The club has a long lease on the stadium, we have the freehold and we do own some of the land around the stadium.

“But there are four or five other people who have all got holdings and all of that needs to be taken into account.

“There is a long way to go - perhaps several years – so nothing will happen suddenly and overnight.”