The kid who said it wasn't them

With the days that pass since the heated cup tie at The New Den. I have found the behaviour of Millwall fans and club officials to be pitiful.

I'm pretty certain that thousands of Liverpool fans are not having their ears playing tricks on them, I certainly think not. I was there and I know that I heard things that I wish I hadn't.

If you don't believe me, then ask Phil Neal. Donning the headphones for a radio commentary, he stayed silent for 20 minutes. Afterwards he said he was "rather subdued". Can't imagine why Phil, who does charity work for the Hillsborugh families group in his spare time, would feel that way.

Then there was the 1000 fans (if not more) who were believed to have chanted these words of unintelligent, pathetic dross. It's pretty clear that when 1000 people say the same thing together in unison, then your likely hear their voices.

But who am I to tell the FA this when it is surely ON TAPE!!

Mr Paphitis, members of the Lions Trust and fans of Millwall...Yellow Pages...Ear Specialist!!

"No Problem"...Millwall were a disgrace

By Chris O'Keefe

Millwall chairman, Theo Paphitis, finished his programme notes for last nights game with Liverpool with an interesting thought.

He said: "What an great opportunity this is once again, to show the world a very positive image of Millwall Football Club."

He was right on that count and myself and just about everyone I spoke went with open minds and no worry of trouble ahead. However my thoughts were quickly reminded of Millwall past not long after entering The Den.

Firstly, we were not given appropriate seats. When I asked one steward where my seat was he replied: "Sit anywhere, just fill the seats." That was first for an away trip.

Really it was when Liverpool went a goal up that everything started to escalate.

Millwall fans rsponeded with: "You should have all died at Hillsborough."

As you can imagine this didn't go down too well with some Liverpool fans. Former player Phil Neal, working for Radio City, apologised for not talking for 20 minutes.

He said: "Seeing what happened tonight made me rather subdued"

But that didn't stop Millwall fans who between making references to Hillsborough, Boris Johnson's comments and Ken Bigley, decided to make gestures similar to cutting a throat and pointing to the exit doors as if to incite violence.

Unfortunately a small number of fans rose to the bait and wanted to confront home fans head on. This included seats being thrown and coins thrown towards fans I might add that seemed to revel in it as they looked like it was what they were after the entirety of the night.

One steward said to me he understand the lack of police presence in their Main Stand compared to the line of police in front of the visiting fans.

Despite stewards promisies that any more chanting would result in ejection, it never happened and more home supporters joined in the chants of pure hatrid. From my estimation and comparing with numbers from media, I think that roughly 1,000 fans (maybe more) joined in.

What cemented my new thoughts of "Old Millwall" was the steward trying to eject one the home supporters in the Main Stand Upper Tier. He was perilously close to going over the front of the tier and other fans joined in the beating of the steward as his colleagues looked on and at each other. In general I think stewarding was awful and no semblence of order established at all.

After our coach left - an hour after the final whistle we had extra passengers because one coach had windows smashed - a brick was thrown at the coach as well as many vocal tirades from fans in pubs and walking home. The coach stayed in tact, my faith in Millwall being a civilised group of fans didn't!

The salt in the mental wound of this experience came this morning. Theo Paphitis saying that Liverpool were solely to blame and that his fans were "not a problem." There is no shred of reasonable evidence to back that statement up and diminishes my estimation of man supposedly trying to transform the image tarnished by years of violence and inhumane hatrid.

Surely the FA will fans the violence was ignited by cold blooded and medieval supporters yet to embrace the evolution of the family game of the last ten years.

Liverpool take risk in Lions Den

By Chris O'Keefe

Liverpool travel to Millwall tomorrow with what's expected to be a depleted side in their Carling Cup clash at The Den.

Rafael Benitez is expected to play the likes Josemi, Igor Biscan and Florent Sinama Pongolle, all of whom didn't start the 2-0 victory against Charlton on Saturday.

Salif Diao may also figure in the game tomorrow, although this may be in doubt after his rather conspicuous performance at Fulham the week earlier.

First team regulars, Sami Hyppia, Luis Garcia and Dietmar Hamann are expected to play no part in the tie with other games following on the horizon.

Neil Mellor, who has suffered with injury problems over the past year may finally get a chance tomorrow night.

Silence isn't golden

By Chris O'Keefe

Liverpool's goalless draw with Deportivo La Coruna was more memorable for the off pitch events than any events on the pitch.

What goings on I hear you ask? Well with twenty minutes left last night The Kop seemed to fall silent and me sat in the middle of it wondering why.

Liverpool had played well in the first half and should have scored through Milan Baros when he rounded the keeper but couldn't finish.

However, in the second half, Deportivo were allowed (the best word for it) to play and Liverpool's intensity levels dropped rapidly from their first half performance.

It was impossible not to think that Liverpool lacked a gameplan to break down Deportivo's defence. Liverpool are in danger of seeing their Champions League campaign disintegrate before it's has time to start unless they step up their game a few notches.

Fergie's cage has been truly rattled

Sir Alex Ferguson launched his most scathing attack of his War on Wenger ahead of the Old Trafford showdown on Sunday, by expressing his disgust at the Gunners' behaviour in last years encounter.

He said: "Their captain (Vieira) let them down ... the Arsenal mob conveniently forget that."

Ferguson also claimed it was the wrost thing he'd seen in sport and added that they got away with murder which also helped them to take the title.

Although to some degree he may be right in his questioning the punishment, I don't think it was his motive for saying what he did.

With United playing catch up to a team still to be beaten in the league since May 2003, his words smack of a manager trying to wind up both sets of players take away from the footballing element. Possibly because if it comes down to who plays the better football then Wenger's boys will actually win hands down.

Mutu highlights major problems with lifestyles

Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu's plight is the latest example of how easily footballers can be exposed to all the bad things in life.

Sky News spoke to an expert yesterday who said , "given the lifestyle of some footballers, it is not uncommon for them to come into contact with social drugs."

Perhaps now is the time for footballers to start taking responsibility for their own actions instead of looking for a get out of jail free card.

Rome wasn't built in a day

By Chris O'Keefe

Modern football is littered with impatience. That's my theory anyway. And the impatience is getting...well more impatient.

The managerial merry-go-round seems to start earlier these days. If a manager has a bad couple of weeks then he's on thin ice or three straight wins and he's up on a pedestal with Shankly, Paisley, Busby and Sir Alex. Yet, in a country where queuing is seen as a British trait, our managers are given the third before they've put the family photo on the desk.

Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, has been at Anfield a total of 108 days. Yet in the two weeks between the defeat at Chelsea and victory at Fulham, it's been all talk of poor play and in particular "zonal marking." Benitez must laugh into his paella when he gets home. Nothing is won in October. If anyone thought the Spaniard - who by the way has achieved success in the first term at his three clubs - was going to get Liverpool playing the kind of football Arsenal were playing last season, they may require a doctor.

Arsene Wenger, had to endure seasons conceding the title Manchester United as early as March! Only two seasons ago they threw away a seemingly unassailable lead. There have been good signs. Some of the football has been very neat and pleasing on the eye. Sure, there are things to work on but Liverpool have been a work in progress for some time.

To paraphrase a famous advert for lager, “Stop, what are you doing this team is not ready yet!"