AFTER the last day of the Premier League and the Championship and League One play-offs, Millwall now know all of their 23 opponents in the 2023-24 Championship season.
Coventry City will be one of them, after they came out on the wrong side of last Saturday’s epic play-off final at Wembley, with Luton Town taking their place in the top flight after a 6-5 victory on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra-time.
Former Millwall winger Fred Onyedinma came on for Luton in the 84th minute before Coventry’s Fankaty Dabo fired the 12th penalty of the shootout over the crossbar.
Luton defender Tom Lockyer collapsed on the pitch early in the game but his dad later posted an image of his son celebrating the victory from his hospital bed.
“We lost Tom Lockyer, but recovered really well after that and showed a lot of emotional strength and character,” Luton manager Rob Edwards said. “We lost our captain and best player. All I’ve been thinking about since the final whistle is that. Health is more important than anything.
“The performance in the first half was excellent. They had the first 20-25 minutes of the second half and got the goal, but we started wrestling back some momentum and then obviously it was tight.
“I’m so proud to be a part of this club. The players, the staff, the board, the supporters, they deserve to enjoy this – they’ve been through a lot.”
There were still two relegation spots to be decided on the final day of the Premier League season last Sunday. Leeds United are down after their 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road. And they were joined by 2015-16 Premier League champions Leicester City who despite beating West Ham United 2-1 were relegated after former Milwall defender Sean Dyche’s Everton beat Bournemouth 1-0 at Goodison Park.
Millwall could come against Leeds manager Sam Allardyce next season as he is open to staying on.
Allardyce believes there is a lot of work needed on the squad.
“The rebuild has to be carefully planned,” Allardyce said. “I don’t know about myself. What is the strategy going to be like both on and off the field? If things are going in the right direction, then we’ll see.
“There is a lot to be done, even for the Championship. Goals to be scored and goal-scorers to score them. That is an area. The squad is a little on the young side, lacks experience.
“That could be not as big a problem in the Championship, as those lads could make a big impact. Size of the squad is another factor over 46 games. Which way does the club want to go? It is a huge disappointment to me not to have gotten more results from the players. I can’t blame them for not trying. They gave everything they have but you can’t make those errors at this level.
“I’m disappointed for the fans. They are very entitled to show their disapproval. They filled the stadium to support and the lads should have given them more to get behind them.”
Leicester manager Dean Smith was also a recent appointment after the club sacked Brendan Rodgers. The Tigers would have stayed up on goal difference had Bournemouth scored at Everton.
Smith guided Aston Villa to promotion through the play-offs in 2019. He is unsure if he will be in charge of Leicester next season.
“I can only look at my seven weeks and eight games,” Smith said. “I always felt coming in it was going to be tough. The confidence and belief was low.
“I felt we would need eleven points to stay up, it turned out to be eleven but we only got nine. In that regard, I have failed.
“The time and effort [chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha] puts in to the football is there to see. I am not thinking about my future at the moment. It is raw getting relegated and I will go and reflect on it.
“The raw materials are of an elite club. It feels raw, it hurts, but with the infrastructure it will bounce back. You have to improve on the things that let you down and I have no doubts the players will.”
Another former Lion, Lee Gregory, earned the second promotion of his career as Sheffield Wednesday defeated Barnsley in the League One play-off final last Monday.
Darren Moore’s Wednesday came back from a 4-0 first-leg defeat to beat Peterborough United on penalties in the semi-finals, and they didn’t let up on the drama as Josh Windass scored the only goal of the game in the 123rd minute in front of over 72,000 fans at Wembley.
“I’m just really pleased for everyone connected with the club, to win in that manner was tremendous,” Moore said.
“Coming into the game, the expectation was huge, the only way to get over the line was by being together and we had that today.
“There was a lot of interest [after the semi-final], but we just wanted to get back on the pitch and go through the basic dynamics and just settle them down, saying the job isn’t done yet. They’re a humble group, I’m grateful to work with them.
“For the football club, we don’t want to stand still, we want to move forward.”
Image: Millwall FC