The team that made Millwall over £10million profit in player sales &#8211; No.4: 1992-95

By John Kelly

NEXT in our series of the best Millwall ‘era’ teams is one that went close to promotion to the top division of English football for just the second time in their history. Mick McCarthy started his first full season in charge in 1992-93 and guided the team to seventh and third in successive seasons in Division One and to the fifth rounds of the FA Cup and League Cup in the next campaign. This was one of the most talented sides in the history of the club but, familiar story, they fell just short of truly historic achievements.

McCarthy, then aged 33, had become player-manager in March 1992, taking over from Bruce Rioch. Millwall had lost their three previous games but McCarthy got off to a good start, winning two and drawing one of his first three.

Ireland international McCarthy guided the Lions to 15th that season, and had the bones of a very good squad to work with: Goalkeeper Kasey Keller, defenders Kenny Cunningham and Colin Cooper and midfielders Alex Rae and Andy Roberts all of whom would go on to play in the Premier League, unfortunately with other clubs. McCarthy also had Chris Armstrong and John McGinlay up front but not for long as they joined Crystal Palace and Bolton Wanderers, respectively, the following campaign. Who knows what the Lions could have achieved with those two in the side for a couple more seasons.

McCarthy had to rebuild that summer and did it well, creating an exciting, attacking team that went as close as any since the 1987-88 side to reaching the top flight. After finishing third in Division One in 1993-94, the side lost 5-1 on aggregate to Derby County in their play-off semi-final.

This is the fourth-best ‘era’ team in the history of Millwall Football Club…

4.

4-4-2 : Keller; Cunningham, Stevens, Cooper, Thatcher; Moralee, Roberts, Rae, Kennedy; Goodman, Mitchell.

Manager : Mick McCarthy

McCarthy had plenty to do after taking over as manager. At such a young age it could have been overwhelming.

The Lions hadn’t long been relegated from the top flight and most of that squad had left the club.

But McCarthy quickly made a name for himself, to the extent that less than four years after succeeding Rioch he landed the international manager’s job with Ireland.

McCarthy is one of only two managers to take Millwall into the second-tier play-offs. There were those two cup runs in 1995 but McCarthy left the following season.

McCarthy recruited well, building a side with young talent combined with experience. Unfortunately, we’ll never know what this team could have achieved had that talent been able to flourish in SE16 rather than elsewhere.

[caption id="attachment_128341" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Mick McCarthy, right, and Gary Rowett. Photo: Millwall FC[/caption] Goalkeeper : Kasey Keller - Keller was part of the United States’ 1990 World Cup squad and joined Millwall in 1992 from Oregon-based Portland Timbers. Keller quickly made an impact at The Den, playing 45 out of 46 league games in 1992-93 when he was voted player of the year by supporters and 46 league appearances the following season including the two legs of the play-off semi-finals. Keller won 102 caps for his country.

Right-back : Kenny Cunningham - Cunningham got the one league goal he scored in his professional career out of the way early when he netted against Portsmouth in Division One in 1994 aged 22. In total - if you can call it ‘total’ - Cunningham scored two goals in his entire professional career spanning 687 games including 72 for Ireland. His qualities weren’t the most eye-catching but were appreciated by managers: brilliant trainer making the most out of his limited talents, tough to beat one-on-one, resilience and determination, and a good communicator and leader. It’s no surprise he went into punditry after the end of his career and he is never one to shy away from giving his opinion.

Centre-back : Keith Stevens - It shows his longevity that Keith Stevens is in two of our other teams and he simply can’t be left out of this one. Stevens played in 46 of the league games in 1993-94 when the Lions went so close. His qualities are described in this ‘era’ team.

Centre-back : Colin Cooper - Millwall could have been one of those clubs that dropped down through the divisions after the high of promotion to the top flight followed by the low of relegation. They needed strong characters and good players to re-establish themselves in the second tier. Cooper was one, joining from Middlesbrough in 1991. He played 36 league games in 1991-92 and 41 the following season as Millwall finished seventh, scoring a total of six goals.

The Lions made a £1.4million profit on Cooper when they sold him to Nottingham Forest in 1993. Cooper went on to win two England caps.

Left-back : Ben Thatcher - Thatcher made his debut for Millwall as an 18-year-old in 1993-94 and established himself as a regular the following season including in those cup runs. He became Wimbledon’s first £1million-plus buy when he joined the Premier League side for £1.8million in the summer of 1996, after being the Lions’ player of the year the previous season.

Right-wing : Jamie Moralee - Moralee joined from rivals Crystal Palace in 1992 but any doubts about him were dispelled when he top-scored for the club with 15 goals in 31 league games in his first season. He followed that up with four in 26 games in 1993-94 as the Lions just missed out on promotion.

Central midfield : Alex Rae - Rae is joint-10th with Jack Landells on Millwall’s all-time top-scorer list with 71 goals. He was second top-scorer (12) behind Teddy Sheringham in his first season in 1990-91; joint top-scorer (13) with Paul Kerr in 1991-92; top-scorer (13) in 1993-94 and joint top-scorer (10) with Jon Goodman in 1994-95. Rae managed to score 13 league goals in 1995-96 - 16 in all competitions - despite the Lions finishing bottom of the league. It was remarkably consistency from the midfielder.

Rae was another one of this team to net Millwall a big profit when he joined Sunderland for £1million in 1996 having signed from Falkirk for £100,000 in 1990.

Central midfield : Andy Roberts - Roberts made his debut in April 1992 a month after turning 18. He became a regular the following season and was also first-choice defensive midfielder in 1993-94 and 1994-95, showing great maturity and positional awareness alongside the attacking Rae. Roberts moved to Crystal Palace in 1995 and played in the Premier League.

Left-wing : Mark Kennedy - Kennedy made his debut for Millwall as a 16-year-old near the end of the 1992-93 season and scored one of the best and most iconic goals in the club’s history in 1994-95. With Millwall 1-0 up against Arsenal at Highbury in the replay of their third-round FA Cup tie in January 1995, Kennedy ran with the ball from halfway before smashing into the roof of the net past England international David Seaman.

Kennedy scored eight goals in 36 games in all competitions that season before moving to Liverpool for a fee of over £2million including add-ons in March 1995.

Centre-forward : David Mitchell - Mitchell arrived at Millwall from Australia via Hong Kong, Scotland, Germany, Holland and Turkey. Mitchell was second top-scorer behind Rae in 1993-94 with nine goals, six of them coming in the last 10 games of the regular season.

Centre-forward : Jon Goodman - It was a failure of the club that the money made by player sales from this team wasn’t ploughed back into the squad for at least another promotion challenge in the latter half of the 1990s.

Millwall paid Bromley just £34,500 for Goodman in 1990 before selling him to Wimbledon along with Cunningham for combined total of £1.3million in November 1994.

Injury affected his career but that fee showed how highly he was rated.

*****

The 1987-88 team still stands alone and only the team above and the 2001-02 side under Rioch have gone close to emulating them.

Our fourth-best team is one of the most talented in Millwall’s history but they didn’t get a chance to go a step further after McCarthy’s departure and subsequent sales of young talent. Those sales made the club £10.5million in profit. Yet the Lions ended up entering administration in January 1997.