Why Man City history changed on a toxic day at Britain's most hated ground

13.10.2022 - 10:15 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

The Den, Cold Blow Lane. Even the address of Millwall’s ground brought a shudder to the spine of away fans brave enough to go there in the dark days of the 1970s and 80s.

Things had not improved a great deal when Manchester City went to the new Den, just down the road, at a crossroads moment in their history.

What happened next was a sweet and sour night which saw the Blues begin a fight back to which today’s unprecedented success can be directly traced, but which also exposed the darker side of football’s soul.

Millwall fans had a history of violence and intimidation which stretched back a hundred years, and in the 70s – when their hooligan firms F Troop and the Bushwhackers were infamous – they also had sinister links to the far-right National Front.

When Kevin Keegan’s Blues made their way to south-east London on a cold Tuesday night in December, 2001, they badly needed a win to get their season back on track.

Keegan had assembled an attractive, attacking team, and they were fancied to bounce straight back to the top flight at the first attempt.

It was not going well. The Blues had lost six of their first 20 games and were seven points behind leaders Burnley – and defeat at The Den would have seen Millwall leapfrog them into fourth place, and City plummet to ninth.

But what happened that night, as fans racially abused City players Shaun Wright-Phillips, Shaun Goater, Ali Benarbia and Eyal Berjovic, helped to cement the team together and spark a winning run which sent the Blues careering to the Football League title.

They returned in triumph to the Premier League a year ahead of the vital move to the new City of Manchester stadium, now known as the Etihad.

The 1999 play-off final win over Gillngham is rightly