4th February 2000
4th February 2000 ATHLETIC have been knocked back in their bid to sign a new striker before tomorrow's testing match at Millwall. The unnamed player is not available on loan as his first division club is struggling with injuries and suspensions. Athletic received the bad news late yesterday, but their attempts to bring in more firepower will not end there. Andy Ritchie's main target could still become free after this weekend, while the manager has also opened other lines of enquiry. In the meantime, Steve Whitehall and Matthew Tipton will play up front tomorrow as Athletic try to extend their flying start to the new year. Ritchie's side — who have kept five clean sheets in six league games — also took 12 points out of 15 during a profitable January. Had it not been for defeat at Burnley in Athletic's last away match, Ritchie would surely have won his first manager-of-the-month award. The honour instead went to Bristol Rovers' Ian Holloway and Ritchie now needs his team to prove that the Burnley display was a temporary lapse, rather than the start of a decline in away form. Ryan Sugden will be the back-up striker at the New Den as Craig Dudley has failed to recover from a foot injury. Eighteen-year-old midfield man Danny Boshell is again included after playing well for the reserves in midweek, but he is likely to be the odd man out in a squad of 17.
ATHLETIC (probable): Kelly, S McNiven, Garnett, Hotte, Adams, Holt, Rickers, Sheridan, Duxbury, Whitehall, Tipton. Subs (from): Miskelly, Jones, Graham, Innes, Sugden, Boshell.
Fourth-placed Millwall could make several changes after their shock defeat at Chesterfield last week. Top scorer Neil Harris hopes to return after missing three games with an ankle problem, Aussie international Lucas Neill may also come into contention and defenders Scott Fitzgerald and Robbie Ryan are back from suspension.
MILLWALL (from): Warner, Neill, Newman, Ryan, Stuart, Fitzgerald, Nethercott, Dolan, Ifill, Reid, Gilkes, Cahill, Livermore, Bircham, Harris, Moody, Shaw, Sadlier, Spink.
Rumour merchants spark Lions’ unrest
MILLWALL’S spectacular promotion charge is in danger of being overshadowed by rumours of a high-profile takeover. The Lions, who are lying in wait for Athletic at the New Den tomorrow, have risen to fourth in the table and already seem booked for a place in the play-offs. For the last few weeks, however, the attention they deserve has been deflected on to someone who is hardly short of media coverage. Chris Evans is the man. And there has been mounting conjecture that the television and radio mogul is ready to buy out Millwall, along with the club’s most famous supporter, Danny Baker. The two close friends have denied any such interest and club chairman Theo Paphitis revealed that no approach had been made. But the rumours persist and, when Evans sold his empire for a tidy £225million last month, his personal windfall of £75m poured fuel on the fire of speculation. When the Chronicle contacted Baker this week, he confirmed: “There’s definitely nothing in it.”
So let’s instead focus on Millwall’s players, who have produced a surge even more startling than that of their next opponents. In August, the side jointly managed by Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary were down among the dead men in 23rd spot. They are now in their highest position of the season and already have an eight-point cushion above the sides outside that all-important top six. As was the case in their last away game — one they lost heavily at Burnley — Athletic are meeting a side with an excellent record at home. Only Preston have left the New Den with a victory this season, while five sides have taken a point and the remaining eight have been beaten. Athletic enjoyed a dramatic 2-1 victory over Millwall in November, with substitute Steve Whitehall grabbing the winner two minutes from time. Goalkeeper Tony Warner played a blinder for the visitors and the former Liverpool number two, who arrived from Anfield in the summer, has stayed in good form ever since.
But the Boundary Park clash also showed Millwall to be highly dangerous going forward. They have a reputation as quick and direct, not as a long-ball outfit but as a team who take a no-nonsense route to goal while keeping the ball firmly on the ground. They failed to live up to their billing in last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Chesterfield — a result which left McLeary warning: “None of my players could have any argument if they were left out next week.” Prior to that, however, they had lost only once in 13 games. And that Boxing Day reverse at leaders Bristol Rovers had ended a run of six straight victories. Their star of the season has been centre-forward Neil Harris, who hit a rich seam of form to inspire the dramatic improvement. Harris (22) had a burst of nine goals in seven games and now has 15 for the season, including a close-range header at Boundary Park. Alongside him up front, Millwall can choose from Richard Sadlier, ex-Arsenal man Paul Shaw and the experienced Paul Moody, a £150,000 recruit from Fulham. The combination means they are rarely short of goals and, although there are plenty of options all over the field, it is no surprise that McLeary and Stevens have made attack the best form of defence. But Millwall are currently caught up in a trap which has caught out several lower division clubs. It is very handy, of course, to have a couple of full internationals on your books and both Lucas Neill and Marc Bircham are excellent by second division standards. But Neill’s last trip to play for Australia saw him return with a knee injury, while Bircham is about to join Canada for the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. Clubs operating with a modest squad have a hard enough time as it is without having so little control over key players.
Millwall bosses Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary are keen to keep Bircham in this country because he hasn’t completed a full training session for a month. It now appears unlikely that Bircham will be able to travel, because Millwall are unhappy about him flying to Los Angeles if he is not fully fit. It is unclear at the moment whether Canada would veto Bircham playing for Millwall if he regained fitness while they are still involved in the Gold Cup. The last few weeks have been a frustrating time for Bircham, who admits that he isn’t the best patient for physio Gerry Docherty. He is determined to dig in and get back to fitness as soon as possible, even if he can’t add to his list of international caps. He said, “I was originally told it would be 10 days to two weeks if I rested my ankle, which I did, but as soon as I started running again it ballooned up and I was in a lot of pain. “I rested it again for a few days and I tried to come back again this week. “I did a bit of work on Monday which was fine, but when I tried it again on Tuesday it swelled up again. It is getting really annoying for me now, and I think I must be getting on Gerry Docherty’s nerves because I have been in the treatment room so much! “People like Sean Dyche and Brian Law have had long term injuries and I really don’t know how they cope. It’s much easier to cope with being out injured when the team is winning, but if things aren’t going so well you just want to be out there yourself. “But every time I start to get down about being injured I just have to think about some of my mates from the Millwall youth team who had to retire because of injury. “But the most important thing for me at the moment is to get fit, and if I can’t get fit in time to play for Canada I want to get fit as soon as possible for Millwall.”