It is a good time to be a Millwall supporter. On Saturday, they won a London derby 4-0 against Charlton Athletic to cement a place in the Championship top six. It was the first time that home supporters at The Den have seen their team score four times in almost four years. Something special is building.
To have predicted this five months ago would have taken a double dose of faith. Millwall were 1-0 up on the final day of last season; a victory would have secured a play-off place then. They conceded three times, sold their Player of the Season to Sheffield United and, at the start of 2025-26, lost three of their first four home games: 0-2, 0-3, 0-4.
But this club is used to making the most of itself. Millwall have lost once at home since. They have forced fine margins their way: no team in the Championship have won more games by a single goal. At the end of January, Millwall are one point behind Ipswich Town. Given everything, it is a mighty achievement even if it is only half an achievement so far.
On the pitch, Alex Neil’s most impressive move as manager was to embrace a “Millwall” style of play. Only one team in the division has scored more set-piece goals and only two have more counter-attacking goals. Neil is happy to sacrifice possession and soak up pressure, even at home, but he demands full throttle when they win the ball back.
There is a Millwall type of goal this season, a midfielder driving forward on the break, a winger receiving possession and crossing for a forward to score. And this is rarely a hit and hope exercise. They have the most accurate crosses per game in the Championship by such a distance that the difference between them and second on that list is the same as between second and 10th.
They also work hard and long, as is the expectation from this crowd; desire is a non-negotiable. It is something far too many managers – in the age of the tactical dogmatist and philosopher – miss: if a club has an identity, then matching the football to it creates immediate buy-in. None of your “sideways and backwards” grumpiness in SE16.
“Just the other day, we were discussing how enjoyable it has become watching Millwall play – that’s a sentence that few of us expected to write!” Nick Hart of the Achtung! Millwall podcast says.
“Alex has proven to be the ideal appointment for the Lions. His combination of realism in defence – soaking up possession and hitting at pace on the counter – suits the Millwall style perfectly.
“The quality of some of the football we’ve played this season has been amongst the best I’ve ever seen at The Den. Fast-paced football with decisive passing movements that never falls into route one-style.”
Just as impressive is how Millwall have evolved as a club to make this possible.
Since the start of 2025, the club have recorded three of the four highest individual sales in the club’s history (Romain Esse, Zian Flemming and Japhet Tanganga).
They reinvest in younger players and recruit experienced heads on free transfers. Millwall have the fifth youngest average XI in the Championship but have signed Barry Bannan from Sheffield Wednesday. The balance works.
Millwall have always been a selling club, but generally through necessity. Now it forms the backbone of genuine, sustainable progress.
The manager is on board with it. The supporters are on board with it. Everyone can see the success of the “B” brigade – Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton – and can dream of their own similar path. It is only January, but why not?
The poignant aspect of this story is the man who is not here to see it play out. It is now two and a half years since John Berylson, then Millwall’s owner, passed away in a road traffic accident. His death brought sorrow and then immense gratitude. It also brought his son to the forefront of football club life.
James Berylson is not his father, but he would welcome any similarities. After promising that Millwall would continue to be funded, James declared his desire to create a new era for a club in a bid to strive to fulfil everything his father sought to achieve here. He has done so; the changes are obvious and are impactful.
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“We are so fortunate at The Den to have had the involvement of the Berylson family over the years,” Hart says.
“Jimmy Berylson’s more ambitious model of player development, combined with the off-field project around the ground, has put us in a position of looking at Premier League football as being something attainable.”
Millwall may never be popular; they would hardly wish to lose that niche. But there is a great deal to admire here in 2026: investment in infrastructure, progress on the pitch, growth as a club and the work of a family to honour a man they lost. The point is this: nobody wants to play Millwall now. That is exactly as it should be, for all the right reasons.
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