MILLWALL Football Club has written to Lewisham Council cabinet members ahead of Wednesday’s crucial meeting to decide whether to push through the compulsory purchase of land around The Den, reconfirming the threat to the club’s academy.
December’s meeting was postponed after it was revealed Millwall could lose its Category Two academy status.
In a letter, also addressed to Southwark Council leaders, Millwall chief executive Steve Kavanagh writes: “The club is very concerned you are being led to believe by the (Lewisham) Council’s officers that the issues we have raised about the future of our youth academy have somehow been satisfactorily resolved. Sadly, this is not the case.”
He adds the potential loss of its current academy status “will mean depriving young people of opportunities which are unlikely to be replicated elsewhere”.
Kavanagh has urged council officers to take up the club’s invitation to meet and “discuss these critical issues” ahead of this week’s meeting.
Millwall Community Trust have also written to cabinet members saying it has no “long-term viable future within the proposed arrangements” that would see it moved from its current location in the Lions Centre.
It also references a letter received from Renewal, which would buy the land if the CPO is passed, in which the property developer suggests any issues have been resolved. MCT states, “This could not be further from the truth.”
Image: Millwall FC