Thoughts turn to millwall's next campaign

By Ian Toal on April 3, 2007 12:00 AM |

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IT ALL seems a bit soon to talk about Millwall's season effectively being over, but that is true in terms of promotion and relegation.
After a great run of form fears of relegation were removed but then just one point from nine meant play-offs hopes also disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. The management
team and players have made the right noises about keeping on trying to win every game until it is mathematically impossible to make the play-offs, and then to try and win as many games anyway to take the form into next season. This is important to us supporters; the team owe that to us as we have paid our hard-earned cash to see them perform and we obviously don't like to see any team come to SE16 and leave with three points, especially in this division.

Given that we know that we will be playing again in League One next season and therefore there is less pressure currently to get results,
Willie Donachie needs to be planning already for next season. He has been doing just that recently by clever use of the loan system. Fringe first team players have been sent out to gain experience playing first team games elsewhere.
Williams, Philips, Zebroski, Bakayogo and Morais will hopefully come back as better players and some will hopefully be pushing harder for first team slots.
In the opposite direction, Donachie has been able to bring in three youngsters that he can look at closely and decide whether to try to permanently sign. Ryan Smith has proved to be a hit already, winning the MSC Man of the Match Award on his home debut last Saturday in the 2-0 win over Swansea. He has pace and skill in abundance but unfortunately will probably command a substantial fee.
England U19 International Nathan Ashton has joined on loan till the end of the season from Charlton and is out of contract in the summer, and has made noises about wanting to join us permanently so he can battle for a first team place at The Den. Young Northern Ireland U19 International defender Chris Casement has also joined on loan eager to impress.
One player who really needs to decide whether his future lies at the club is Marvin Elliott. Marvin has had a couple of poor seasons and is out of contract in the summer, seemingly refusing to sign a new deal. Marvin has put in a couple of really outstanding performances against Premiership opposition in the last couple of seasons but then spent the rest of the time wandering around games going through the motions.
If Marvin does not want to sign a new contract he should remain on the bench and experience should then be given to players who will be with us next season.
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