NEWS Shopper online’s Millwall columnist MATT LITTLE this week explains why he was at least impressed by the spirit of the players in Saturday’s 6-0 defeat against Birmingham.

I STARTED a new job recently and eventually the talk got around to football, as it invariably does.

I am sure all Millwall fans will have experienced what happened next a hundred times or more.

While others simply said which club they supported and received a nod in acknowledgement, my revelation was greeted will the usual mix of gasps, wise cracks and allegations of being a hooligan.

Hilarious, I am sure you’ll all agree.

But don’t get me wrong, I, like most Millwall fans, do enjoy the infamy it brings.

Whether people love us or hate us, and it is usually the latter, they are all interested in this little club from south London.

You see, Millwall are so far outside the football family we’re almost a different sport.

As I was chopping the veg listening to the radio on Sunday, I knew that none of those journalists prattling on about Kenny Dalglish or the Arsenal way of playing would ever understand us.

They would think I was pretty perverse for being proud of my club after a 6-0 home drubbing, amid scenes of bottles being launched onto the pitch and an opposition player being subbed for his own safety.

Yet Millwall are far from a normal club and Millwall fans are far from being your average 21st century football fans.

Not that I think throwing bottles is big or clever – in fact it’s a bit cowardly.

I would much rather they followed our Millwall forefathers, who exactly 45 years ago to the day attacked the Plymouth team bus after the Pilgrims ended our 59 home game unbeaten run.

However, what the bottles raining down on the pitch did capture was the raw emotion and aggression being reawakened among the home support.

I once read a Nottingham Forest fanzine which was both shocked and slightly in awe of the aggression on display in SE16, a pretty typical response I find.

It said every throw in was contested as if it was a penalty and every foul on a home player drew a reaction that was akin to how someone would react if they had seen their nearest and dearest assaulted.

This kind of ferociously partisan support has been sadly lacking this season.

Seeing Jermaine Easter get off scot-free after goading Millwall fans having put Palace 1-0 up was a particular low point.

Yet the players must take a lot of the blame for this.

In years gone past the likes of Cripps, Hurlock or dear Kevin Muscat would have put the likes of Easter very much in their place.

I hope it will not be lost on our current players that on Saturday they went off to a standing ovation and a heartfelt rendition of no-one likes us.

We are not being simplistic when we say all we want to see when a player pulls on that famous shirt is for them to give their all.

If you look at the talented players who have graced the Den’s hallowed turf over the years, the likes of Teddy Sheringham or Steve Morison, none have ever got close to the cult status of the more limited Terry Hurlocks or Barry Kitcheners of the game here.

I just hope this will be the making of this group of players and that they come out fighting.

As fans we will have to carry the cross of supporting Millwall at work and in public - condemned, despised and derided.

But our greatest weakness is also our greatest strength.

In the most bizarre way, it feels like we have been awakened from a slumber, both as a group of players and set of fans.

Hopefully the 5-0 thumping of Dagenham & Redbridge last night proves that to be the case.

If they can take the togetherness they felt against Birmingham City, and combine it with the regained confidence from last night’s decent display, then we can look to battle our way out of trouble.

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