It’s Saturday, 13th February, 1988. The Millwall team coach is making the short journey to Reading for The Lions’ latest Division Two match. With 13 games left, John Docherty’s promotion hopefuls are starting to look increasingly unlikely to shake off that unwanted tag of being the only football team from the capital never to have played in English football’s top flight.
Inconsistency is, as ever, their worst enemy. A six match winning streak pre-Christmas was quickly followed by three defeats. A trio of festive wins had got them back into the play-off places, only for all the hard work to be undone once more with losses at home to Bradford and away to Birmingham. In one of the most open divisions in decades, Millwall’s Jekyll and Hyde form seemed to be handing the crucial top five places to Aston Villa, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Bradford and, most annoyingly, Palace.
This was the second season of the play-offs. Gone were the days where, by February, if you weren’t in touching distance of the top three you could forget going up. Now, even teams in the bottom half of the table going into the last ten matches could still have promotion ambitions. In this early format, only the top five were involved. Champions and runners-up obviously gained automatic promotion, third played fourth in one two-legged semi-final, and fifth played the team that finished fourth bottom in the top flight. This was intended to reduce the First Division from 21 to 20 teams.
Millwall fans did not want to be involved in the play-offs.
Sure they might have taken it back in August, when promotion still seemed an unlikely dream, but it had turned out to be one of those divisions where no one team seemed to want to go up. A top two place really was there for the taking. Yet it looked like they were going to spurn their best chance of First Division football since 1972. Missing that opportunity and then having to win through two more two-legged matches would surely be too much.
The Lions fans that travelled to Elm Park that day were probably as unsurprised at their team’s stuttering promotion charge as they were with the weather. It always seemed to rain at Reading, and today was no exception.
Many of them had seen their team surrender meekly 0-1 at Birmingham’s St Andrews a few days before and whilst the league position was still a healthy fifth, it was the uncharacteristic lack of fight in The Lions’ team that was more cause for concern.
They needn’t have worried.
A scrappy game on a bog of a pitch started badly for Millwall when Reading took the lead in the 22nd minute. Mick Tait headed home from virtually on top of Brian Horne’s goal line after an uncharacteristic fumble from a corner by the Lions’ stopper.
Ten minutes later Millwall were level when Terry Hurlock smashed home from six yards, latching on to a half-clearance by the home side following a Lions corner. The Millwall midfielder was, it would transpire, leading by example.
Four minutes later however Reading were back in front when Millwall failed to deal with a free kick and Hicks got on the end of it first to poke the hosts in front going into the break.
During half time, the sodden Millwall fans contemplated another defeat which would almost certainly condemn them to a play-off berth at best, but their side’s faltering promotion engine was about to be thrust suddenly into overdrive.
Within 60 seconds of the restart Sheringham fired Millwall level from the edge of the six yard box in front of the jubilant travelling fans. Five minutes later it was 3-2 when Sheringham completed a stunning move with a diving header from a Kevin O’Callaghan cross.
This Millwall side were unrecognisable to any that the fans had seen all season, let alone the first half. Pacey, incisive and deadly accurate. There had a been a few cameos of this, such as the Boxing Day win at West Brom, but nothing as consistently potent as they were witnessing here. The final score could – and should – have been at least 6-2 as The Lions threatened to run riot but 3-2 was enough to breathe new life into their promotion campaign, and they never looked back.
Even though three of the next four games were drawn – the last an absolute robbery with a highly dubious injury time equaliser by Palace at The Den, this Millwall side had a renewed belief and sooner or later someone would be punished. That someone was Huddersfield, the relegation-bound Yorkshire side well beaten 4-1 in the next home match and from there the rise to the league summit was swift. Graham Taylor’s table-toppers Aston Villa were beaten 2-1 at The Den and then play-off hopefuls Leeds defeated in a midweek 2-1 win at Elland Road. Plymouth put up some resistance next but a thrilling 3-2 home victory over The Pilgrims saw The Lions at the top of the pile with four games left.
Nerves were jangling days later when Bournemouth were awarded an injury time penalty which looked to have brought Millwall’s winning run to a halt, but Brian Horne saved brilliantly to preserve another 2-1 win and the title was within their grasp. A routine 2-0 win at The Den next against Stoke saw Millwall and 7,000 of their expectant fans travel to Hull on Bank Holiday Monday knowing a win could seal the dream. Kevin O’Callaghan’s eleventh-minute penalty was enough and, with results elsewhere going their way, the title was Millwall’s.
As if that fairytale ending to the season wasn’t sweet enough, the meaningless final day defeat at home to Blackburn meant that rivals Palace missed out on a play-off place. A delicious bit of karma.
So what was it that sparked that sudden change in fortunes and form? As has always been the way in football, there was a slice of good luck. Millwall were awarded a penalty in each of the four games before that title clincher at Hull and with Kevin O’Callaghan one of the best in the business from 12 yards, it was a major part in clinching all the points in those crucial games.
But there was something else.
During the summer celebrations, as fans and players reflected on a never-to-be-forgotten season, word went around that an impromptu team meeting had been called by one of the players as that coach made its way down the M4 to Reading. That player was rumoured to be Terry Hurlock. This has never been confirmed, likewise the content of the meeting if it did indeed take place has never been revealed. Fans can only imagine those players huddled at the back of the coach with Hurlock laying down the law, and no-one was going to argue with him were they?
They say if the legend is better than the truth, print the legend. As we approach the 35th anniversary of that incredible Millwall achievement, the legends of that history-making squad grow greater with age. This particular one only serves to make the story of that season even more memorable.