Big Millwall interview: “I played for Crystal Palace, so I wasn’t sure, but I loved it.”

As long as you stay out of the spotlight and don’t look for trouble, Millwall is a safe place to visit these days. In fact, if you travel by coach or train, it can be one of the safest grounds to visit; however, it’s still advisable to avoid wearing bright colors, even outside the stadium, like in the area around London Bridge Station, as some games still feature unsavoury elements.

The Stadium

If you think the current Den is intimidating then you should think yourself lucky that you never visited Millwall’s former home, also called the Den that was situated just a little walk away, that took the phrase intimidation to a different level, it had been that way since Victorian times and had a reputation attached to it that reached legendary status in the 1960’s through to the early 1990;s when in 1993 it was replaced by their current home.

Initially called the New Den, it has been changed to just simply the Den at some time in the last decade, it consists of four separate but vaguely similar two tiered stands, giving a total capacity of 21,146. Although this capacity has never been quite reached, possibly because of the need to isolate the away fans.

This capacity has rarely been tested as Millwall haven’t had an average attendance of over 15,000 since they moved to the ground 20 years ago and the highest League attendance registered, again due to the need to segregate is well short of the 21k at 18,905, although this was recorded in the opening League home game this season, possibly due to the fact that due to violence lessening over recent years that the police are allowing bigger away support numbers.

With 3,000 Saints supporters present on Saturday, the attendance might set a new record for the league gate at the stadium. The lowest audience to date has been approximately 12,500, resulting in an average of almost 15,500.

Even though we haven’t played in the League since 2012, we did play in the League Cup in 2014–15, winning 2-0 in front of just 6,014 spectators with goals from Jack Cork and Graziano Pelle.