Bright Future For The Lions? It’s a question that has often been asked by long suffering Millwall supporters but perhaps now, at long last, we can ask the question with a bit of optimism to back it up with. I believe I’m right in saying not many clubs have the ups and downs that we face at Millwall. For as long as I have been supporting the club there has never been any kind of stability. Be it from a ground move to the promise of lucrative deals to make the club one of the biggest in London, from administration to Europe, Wembley to Budapest via Cardiff, promotion, relegations, play offs heartache…the list is quite literally, endless. Whilst supporting a club like Millwall can be described as exciting as you never know what’s going to happen, the club has long needed some stability. When Theo Paphitis took the job on in 1997 the sinking ship was diverted to safety and we were on the brink of a major wave that would see us catapult into the Championship and later into the FA Cup Final and Europe. Despite this achievement largely down to the fact that the best ever set of youngsters in our history emerged at the same time, something was never quite right. The Wembley ticketing fiasco left a sour taste in the mouths of supporters and this was to become worse following the riot that followed our defeat in the Play-Offs to Birmingham City. We had a chairman that despite doing a very good job to start with, was more interested in the limelight and fame that came with the job that would ultimately see him feature on two series of “Dragons Den” and endless other TV shows. No longer was he “chairman of Millwall” he was “Theo Paphitis, that ugly chap on the tele”. We at MISA long protested against his running of the club that resulted in a mixed reaction by fellow supporters. Up towards the end of his reign as chairman pretty much everyone had come round to the idea that infact this geezer wasn’t the man he claimed to be many years ago. Despite him stepping down which couldn’t have come a day too soon, his legacy was still evident as elected chairman Jeff Burnige took over in what would turn out to be a disastrous couple of months for him. Many believed (and still believe!) that Theo Paphitis placed Burnige into the job so that he could take the brunt of the criticism as players were sold. Jeff Burnige, a lifelong supporter, was hardly going to turn down the chance to be the chairman of his beloved club was he? It become pretty clear soon on that poor old Burnige had got into water way too far above his head and Peter De Savary replaced him. Remember him? The old fella that looked like an over excited demented cow as he came rampaging onto the pitch with his Millwall shirt on over his suit. Classy. We were eventually relegated as you all know and pretty much everyone feared the worse. As things have turned out since though, perhaps relegation will turn out to be something that helps the club in the long run. As silly and daft as it sounds it gave us a chance to clear out the ‘dead wood’ who were on vast amounts of money and replace them with young players eager to succeed. By now we had Stewart Till as chairman a lifelong Millwall fan. Joining Stewart on the board was another lifelong Millwall fan Trevor Keyse and of course our very own fan on the board Peter Garston. They were later joined by Heather Rabbatts and even later by John Berylson and Graham Ferguson Lacey. Despite a disappointing start to the season which saw yet another managerial casualty in the shape of Nigel Spackman, the Lions roared to a 10th place finish thanks to some fine work by new boss Willie Donachie. After many years of wondering who was going to get sacked or sold next week, there appears to be some hope that the new board we have are actually not only quite clued up but actually give a monkies about us. In the form of the American John Berlyson it would appear we have someone who quietly goes about his business getting results. He has so far been honest and upfront in saying that he isn’t going to splash millions into Willie Donachie’s hand to purchase new players, but instead attempt to make the club run itself on a level footing. He has already made two new additions to the boardroom team. Andy Ambler and Demos Kouvaris both have been appointed to look at the financial running of the club. Andy Ambler successfully turned Fulham round into making a profit so comes with much pedigree. They will in effect replace quite frankly, one of the most pointless and useless members of the board in history, Ken Brown. You see we don’t hold back any punches at MISA. It’s important however not to get carried away by things or get too drawn into comments from the new board. Us supporters have heard things before by previous chairmen only to end up more than disappointed. I certainly sense however that this time may be different. We seem to have everyone pulling in the same direction and a sense of togetherness that I haven’t seen with the board for…well, since I’ve followed the club. We can look forward to August with an optimistic smile and perhaps be celebrating come May 2008.