AALL THOSE YEARS AGO! MILLWAALL AWAY 1978

 Posted 4:59pm bells' Munday 7th Septembaa 2026

Ben Drennen scores from the penalty spot to put wor youth team 3-0 up 

at The New Den in 2014 (ground number 314)

48 years ago we heeded for New Cross in south London, when NUFC played Millwaall at the old Den!---🠟

And here we are aall these years later, gannin to the New Den to watch wor forst team for the forst time tomorrow neet!

NUFC have been allocated just ower 2,000 tickets

'The NUFC mad-sad groundhoppers' HAVE been to The New Den before--to watch wor youth team play Millwaall's youth team in 2014-- before wor forst team game at Arsenal later on that day! (Wor youth team won 3-1 but unfortunatly we had to leave before the end to get to the Arsenal game for kick off time (We didnt! and missed the forst couple of minutes!)---ground '314 The New Den' in the archive section! 

"WE WOZ THERE!---THE PROOF!"

A match report from the 1978 game iz below this article! 

"Where's Jack the Ripper?' (ground 045)

Footnote: A match and boozer report on tomorrow neets game will appear here sometime on Wedinzday

045 the den millwall

(GROUND NUMBER 45)
Date of First Visit: 19th AUGUST 1978
THE DEN, NEW CROSS, LONDON

MILLWALL 2
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 (David Barton)

(OLD) DIVISION TWO
ATTENDANCE: 12,105 (2,000 Toon fans) (plus 3 daft c***s in the Millwaall end!)




"WHERE'S JACK THE RIPPER?"

Somewhere doon 'Cold Blow Lane'!

This was Newcastle's forst game back in the aad Second Division since 1965 after relegation from the top flight in May, and a more intimidatin' place tih gan for wor return tih 'the abyss' is hard to imagine!.
 
Both Millwaall and the Toon had hard core hooligans (Millwaall still dee of course!) and the reputation of both sets of fans was notorious tih say the least!. Aall the taalk at the time was aboot what would happen when the rival fans met. The Toon fans had aalready caused mayhem in the Berwick Rangers 'friendly'? the week before (a trial run perhaps?) and the Millwaall radgies notoriety spoke for itself.

The Newcastle fans were really 'up for it', as the Friday midneet train tih Kings Cross departed from the 'Central', and one fan full of drink, who was shootin' his mouth off, made it clear just what he was gannih dee tih 'The 'F' Troop' and 'Harry The Dog' in particular (One of the Millwaall gangs and their leader!) .

By the time wi'd reached 'The Smoke', he'd just aboot sobered up, after sleepin' aall the way doon, but had completely changed his tune by nuw, when the realisation of what he was lettin' himself in for, finally dawned on him, and he was shakin' like a leaf! as the train pulled into Kings Cross. (This was at five in the mornin'!)

By midday he'd completely lost his bottle!, and decided not tih gan tih the match after aall, and telt everybody that 'as it was a hot sunny day', he was gannin 'on the drink' instead!.

Aboot an hour later, a dozen more fans decided it was safer tih get a 'sun tan' in Piccadilly than a 'tannin' in New Cross, (where Millwaall play) and said that THEY were'nt gannin' tih the match either!.

Ah could'nt believe it!, ah mean, what's the f*****' point of gannin aal the way tih London and not gan tih the match!?. ("bloody 'yellow bellied 'turncoats'"!)

This left meesel, Geoff from Nottingham and another fan, (who's name ah can't remember) tih mek wih own way tih The Den!. Wih did'nt have a clue how tih get there, so wih flagged a 'black cab' doon and telt the driver where we were gannin.
As soon as wih mentioned the 'M' word, he was off like a shot!. After several more fruitless attempts at gettin' a taxi tih gan there, ah asked a cabbie the 'deadly question'!: "Why the hell will neebody tek us
tih Millwaall"?.

He just looked at iz in amazement (as though he'd been asked tih gan tih Beirut!) and said in a thick Cockney accent, MILLWAWLL!?---yoo've gotta be jowkin' mayte!--- aa dawnt want ma f******mawtaah wrecked!"
(Translation: "MILLWALL!? ---you've got to be joking mate!, I don't want my f****** motor wrecked!")

Time was gettin' on, and there was nowt else for it but tih try and find wor way on the tube. Tih cut a lang story short, wih got completely lost!, and did'nt get tih New Cross Gate tube station 'til qwaata past three!, it was panic stations by nuw as wi'd aalready missed the kick off, so wih quickly asked the way tih the groond, and were pointed in the direction of some old railway bridges and a couple of 'Steptoe & Son' style scrapyards!.
The place looked a 'bit dodgy' tih say the least, as wih hurried alang the *labyrinth of 'easy tih get lost' Victorian cobbled streets, towards the roar of the crowd. (*aa divvint naa wot 'labyrinth' means---but it soonds good!)

The onimouslee named 'Cold Blow Lane', (which leads tih Millwaall's groond) even on a hot sunny day, is (definately) NOT! a place for the faint hearted!, and a feelin' of 'dread' suddenly came ower iz!, as aa could'nt help wonderin' if 'Jack The Ripper'! would suddenly jump oot from behind one of the railway arches brandishin' a meat cleaver!, or!---worse still!---wi'd be ambushed by a posse of 'F' Troop' radgies, and get brayed ower the heed with their infamous 'Millwaall bricks'. (a rolled up newspapers, knotted at the end tih form heavy clubs!)


But mee fears were unfounded, (for nuw at least!) and wih (finally) got tih The Den at 'half three bells', and ah asked the gadgie on the tornstile if this was the Newcastle end.
"Noocarsel?---Yeah mayte---straight in!", he said, so wih paid wor money and hurried in.

Wi'd aalready missed half an hour of the game, but at least nuw we were safe and soond in the Newcastle end.----ER!---WRANG!---The b*****d tornstile operator had sent wih into the f*****' MILLWAALL END instead!---and their fans were gannin mental!---hittin' the 'Dibbles' and tryin' tih tear the fence doon tih get at the Toon fans behind the far goal!.
Luckily for us, we were'nt wearin' any colours, so wih did a VERY! stupid thing, by tryin' tih get tih the 'Newcastle end' by waalkin' THROUGH! the Millwaall radgies, (not even the S.A.S. would be mad enough tih try this!)


Az 'Geoff from Nottingham' had more of a 'southern accent' than me and the otha lad, aa said tih him, that if anybody spoke tih us, HE! would dee the taalkin' and WE! would pretent tih be deef and dumb!
BUT!--- wih couldn't get past the fence as 'The Dibble',who had their truncheons drawn and snarlin' alsation dogs 'at the ready', had formed an impenetrable line to stop 'The 'F' Troop' radgies in their tracks and so wih decided that wih had nee choice but tih stay put in the Millwaall section of the groond.

We waalked tih the corner of the terraces tih try and keep oot the way, and as wih did the Toon scored, when David Barton met a Jim Pearson cross tih heed the baall past the Millwaall keeper!.

We were in two minds whether tih celebrate wor goal, but soon had second thoughts, when the Millwaall fans started gannin' 'off it' again, ---so!--- (wih sensibly!) kept wor mooths shut, as wih did'nt fancy bein' carried oot the groond in body bags!. (This was the forst time in mee life, that ah hadn't celebrated a Toon goal!)

Just after the goal the whistle went for half time, however wor lead did'nt last for lang, and 'The Lions' equalised seven minutes after the restart. A few minutes later Millwaall got their second and the Toon were deed and buried. (But thankfully, not us!)



There was more fightin' after the final whistle and a 'Dibblette' was hit by a brick thrown by a Millwaall fan, (a hoose brick, NOT! a Millwaall brick!) and as wih left the groond wih wisely decided tih keep a low profile on the journey back tih Central London as we were 'on our own' again as the Toon fans in 'the proper end' were locked in for a good hour after the game!. (ie: Act deef and dumb!---again!) (sign language at the ready!)


However!---wih got tih Piccadilly in 'one piece' and heeded for the pre-arranged meetin' point at 'Snows' (pub) where the 'yellow bellied turncoats' were drinkin'---And didn't we have a story tih tell THEM!----Wi'd been in the Millwaall end and (somehow!) got oot alive!

HOW MANY CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT!???




©Fink™ (the mad-sad gr☺undh☺pper!)

THE TOON 2. THE CHERRY PICKERS 2 *** PREMYAA LEEGUE 2026-2027

 Posted ‘high noon 🔔 bells’ Sunday 6th Septembaa 2026

A NEW BANNER FOR A NEW HEED COACH!

“THE BOURNEMOOOTH JINX!”

For want of  better word the first half woz a DISASTER in many ways and the sequence of events were az follows:

9th minute: Havin failed to have beaten The Cherry Pickers in wor last 4 Premyaa Leegue games at SJP, it looked az though this would stretch to 5 after wor visitors took an lead, which should have been disallowed for a foul on Anthony Elanga near the halfway line!

Truffert had fouled Elanga, but the ref waved 'play on'? A deflected shot looped into the box and Marcus Tavernier woz on hand to poke the baall under Hornicek in The Toon goal at The Gallowgate End!

Despite protests from the payers and the crowd, the goal stood and we were 1-0 doon!

35th minute: It got worse when Bournemoooth doubled their lead with a bizzare own goal!---Justin Kluivert hit the post and it hit Hornicek's heed and spun near to the crossbar and post angle--the spinnin baall hit Thaiw and ended up in the net! 2-0 to them!

Aalmost immediatly we pulled one back when Harvey Barnes hit an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the Leazes End goal, with their goalie well beaten! HT 2-1 to them!

It haz to be said that we lost possession and hit misplaced passes throughoot this half----totally shambolic! 

Aalso the ref gave free kicks for every challenge which frustrated the fans az the Elanga foul woz dismissed az a fair challenge! (Specsavers have got some canny deals this week Mr Jones!) 👓 

The 2nd half woz a bit better az we pressed for an equaliser and new boy Matias Fernandez- Pardo made an appearance in the 62nd minute to liven up the doom and gloom that had enveloped the stadium!

Bournemoooth time wasted with players gannin doon with fake injuries to run the clock doon, but another Toon sub--Jacob Ramsey, saved the day with an equaliser in the 88th minute! 

A Thaiw knockdoon fell nicely to wor number 41 and hit a pressision low shot into the net to the relief of the vast majority of the record SJP Premyaa Leegue crowd of 52,643 (500 new seats have been added in various parts of the groond! (Just 1,159 away fans)

Just 6 minutes of stoppage time woz added and the crap ref blew up to loud booos from the crowd, aimed at him and not the players!

Thats 5 home games in a row that we have failed to beat them in a Premyaa Leegue game----The Bournemoooth jinx continues!

And az for the referee--- 0 oot of 10!

*

THE TOON V THE CHERRY 🍒 PICKERS*** PREMYAA LEEGUE 2026-2027

  ‘Posted high noon 🛎️ bells’ Friday 4th Septembaa 2026

“A NEW BEGINNING!”⬆️

A month ago we were aall in dispair with aall the key players abandoning the club!—The pre season friendlies were painful!—-And now—just a month later we are full of optimism for the new season with 8 new players and of course a new heed coach to oversee things!

If the first 3 competitive games are anything to gan by, then we are in for roller coaster season!

Of course Bournemoooth will be a tough test—they always are!— Let’s see how it pans oot in the next few weeks! (They are bringing less than 1,200 Cherry Pickers with them!) Kick off at the ridiculous time of ‘12:30 🛎️s’ for live telly (TNT)

We have another brand new signing and a quality striker at last, who will make hiz debut tomorrow and we cannot wait to see Matias Fernandez Pardo in action!

Aall the doom and gloom haz gone and a new era begins!

“HOWAY THE TOON!” 🤪👍🏁

SOME GREAT NEWS! THE LEAZES END COMPANIONS BAR ON LEAZES PARK ROAD NEAR SJP HAZ REOPENED AFTER BEING CLOSED FOR OVER A YEAR DUE TO DAMAGE TO THE ROOF!⬇️

For the Bournemoooth game tomorrow the bar iz open at ‘9:30am bells’ 🔔 and upstairs consert room will be open from 10:30am 🛎️s⬇️

Support your local boozer!

 

DOUBLE HEEDER MUNDAY!

 Posted ‘2:33pm bells Wedinzday 2nd Septembaa 2026 (2 days late!)

DUNSTON

The Geordie Times did a double heeder on bank holiday Munday, when we went to see Dunston v West Auckland at ‘3:00 🛎️s and then onward to Benton to watch NUFC U 21s take on Fulham U21s

Forst up woz Dunston where the home side beat the former World Cup winners West Auckland 4-0 ⬇️

and then we crossed the sacred river Tyne to watch wor U21s get beaten by the same score!

BENTON

NUFC U21s HEED COACH⬇️

But guess which game drew the highest attendance?  You would Fink iz woz at Whitley Park, Benton, but the UTS Stadium in Dunston had the higher crowd!

There were 545 at Dunston and 441 at Benton!—104 less!

The pre match and half time drinkin dens were az follows!

Dunston clubhoose

Benton

A PASSPORT TO GAN TO BENTON????🤔

Whitley Park clubhoose

“AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!”

Posted ‘2:29pm 🛎️ bells’ Tuezday 1st Septembaa 2026

“COME IN NUMBER 20!”⬆️

News reaches The Geordie Times that we have signed an out an out striker at last, with fantastic pace! (He can aalso fly doon the wing!)

21 year old Matias Fernandez-Padro iz a Belgian 🇧🇪 International and haz signed for a reported £51 million from French club Lille!

He flew into Toon airport last neet and completed hiz medical at wor trainin groond in Benton, next door to where wor U21s were losin 4-0 to Fulham U21s! (Match report later!)

This iz a fantastic transfer for NUFC and with 7 other major signings durin the summer transfer window, wor team will look completely different from last season!

                                             🤪👍🏁

“I’VE AALWAYS SAID THAT I WON’T BELIEVE THAT A PLAYER HAZ SIGNED FOR US, UNTIL HE IZ STANDING INSIDE SJP WITH A TOON SHIRT OR SCARF IN FRONT OF THE EAST STAND SIGN!”

*In other transfer news, Nick Waltemade haz joined Juventus on a season long loan for £3.5 million! (He cost us a record £64 million!)

He tried hiz best, but hiz style of play doesn’t suite the Premyaa Leegue and he woz a very expensive panic buy in the last summer transfer window, after the rat 🐀 deserted the ship! (And 3 other targets were highjacked by cartel clubs!)

We wish him well az he seems a canny lad and hopefully he will be a success in the Italian ‘Serie A’ Leegue!

SPURZY 0. THE TOON 2 *** PREMYAA LEEGUE 2026-2027

 Posted ‘3:03pm 🛎️ bells’ Sunday 30th August 2026

TOON PLAYERS CELEBRATE WITH THE FANS AFTER WISSA’S GOAL!

“ITS HAPPENIN' ⬆️AGAIN!”

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium iz a great hunting groond for NUFC, for in wor 8 visits here since wor 1st one in 2019 we have won 5 drawn 2 and lost 2 games!

Aalso this woz 3rd win in a row here! Happy days!

And it woz the torn of new manager Matt Jaissle to clam the win this time, with 2nd half goals from Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa to seal the 3 points and climb to 3rd top (for the time being, at least!)

We started off well and within the forst minute of the game Elanga went close, with a loopin effort that just went wide at the far end from us!

New goalie ‘Horny’ Hornicek made some excellent saves orly on the deny the home side!

It woz level at the break, but if we had had an out and out striker in the side, we surely would have been in the lead by then, az we attacked relentlessly, but with nee shots on target, you dont score goals!---do you?

The 2nd half torned oot to be a great half for us, and we took the lead in the 63rd minute when a fantastic lang range pass from new boy Nico 'Speedy' Gonzalez foond another new boy, Amar Dedic who heeded the baall doon in the box for Anthony Elanga to turn and shoot---His shot hit the far post and seemed to trickle ower the line, to send the 3,000 plus Toon faithful in the corner section into meltdown---and one kid hurled himself ower the row behind me and nearly knocked mee phone oot of me hand az aa tried to take a picture of the players celebrations! 1-0 to us!

THe 2nd goal wozzint lang in comin, when in the 72nd minute a Lewis Hall corner woz nodded doon by Nick Waltemade and Yoane Wissa acrobatically did an owerheed flick to double wor lead!

Thats the way it stayed az the stands emptied quickly, with fed up Sporz fans heedin for the exits!

Its NOT wot they expected after spendin ower £300 million on new players, includin, of course £100 million on Sandro Tonali, who woz bood by Toon fans everytime he touched the baall and woz jeered off when he woz substituted halfway though the 2nd half!

A great result, which dispels some of the doom and gloom that enveloped Tyneside just one month ago!

Attendance: 61,025 (3,038 very happy Toon fans!)

*There woz anly one boozer ⬆️on wor pub crawl this time, coz we went to London and back in a day!  By the time match finished at aroond aboot ‘7:30pm 🛎️s we anly had 90 minutes to get back to King’s Cross to catch the last train back yem at 9:03 🛎️s’

A near 2 mile walk to Tottenham Hale tube station and join a lang queue of mainly dejected Sporz fans!  We got back to KX at 8:25 bells 🔔’ which meant we had to heed straight for the train 🚂 and abandon any booze stops!

2 vodka and cokes ⬆️in first class woz the order of the day,  to while the 3 hour jorney back to Tyneside!

               “We woz there!—⬆️—-The prooof!”

SPURSY V THE TOON *** TEATIME

 PPosted ‘high noon 🕛 🛎️ bells’ Saturday 29th August 2026 on the train to King’s Cross from The Toon!

VIEW FROM THE AWAY SECTION AT SPURS

Wor forst of many trips to London begins today at ‘5:30 bells 🔔’ at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Sky 📺)

The forst 2 competitive games have been very encouraging, scorin 5 goals in the process, but giving away daft free kicks and ppenalties, iz something we must sort oot!

Anyway! NUFC have sold wor allocation of 3,038 tickets in the usual away section! (See top photo)

A full Geordie Time match and boozer report will appear here later!

MEEENWHILE!

Dates for wor aaway games at Leedz haz been confirmed az Munday Septembaa 14th at ‘8:00 🔔s and wor Leegue Cup tie at Millwaall will be at Tuezday 8th Septembaa— the same day az the Palace v Smogmonster game which iz just 5 miles south of The Den— shud be an interesting jorney doon with the riot capital squad of Middlesbrough 🔥 joining us at Darlo and beyond!

(Don’t forget your stab proof vests—for BOTH fan bases!)

PS: The NUFC mad-sad groundhoppers have been to the New Den before, to watch wor U18s v Millwaall U 18s in the FA Youth Cup (Wor 1st team have never played there before)

THE TOON 3. THE BAGGIE TROOSERS 2 *** LEEGUE CUP 2nd ROOND

 Posted ‘3:21pm 🛎️ bells’ Thorzday 27th August 2026

THE TOON V THE BAGGEEZ *** LEEGUE CUP 2nd ROOND

 Posted ‘high noon 🛎️ bells Wedinzday 226th August 2026

Quite a lot to get through today!

FROM SKY SPORTS NEWS YESTERDAY

Firstly we welcome 24 year old Spaniard Nico ‘Speedy’ Gonzalez from Man City for a reported £47 million plus £3 million add ons!

He will be wor 7th signing of the summer transfor window and one of the very best midfielders in The Premyaa Leegue!

Welcome to The Toon ‘Speedy’ (az we will no doubt caall him!)⬇️

Movin on to tooneet when we play Championship side West Brom in the Leegue Cup at SJP

We hear that they have sold just 2,000 of their allocation and so there will be quite a few empty seats in the away section!

Havvint got a clue just wot wor lineup will be come the ‘7:45bells kick off! (Sky)

Hopefully we can overcome them and be in the draw for the 3rd roond, which (like last season) will be fixed , so that the teams in Europe cannit play each other! (NUFC were one of the teams last season)

NUFC could draw anybody, but the anly teams left in the competition who we’ve never played away from home are Fleetwood and AFC Wimbledon!

FLEETWOOD BEAT SHREWSBURY 4-0 AT HOME

If we cannit get eethaa of them away, then a home draw would be preferable!

The draw takes place on Sky after the Preston v Evaaton game!

A full match report to follow tomorrow!