Welcome To The Lions Den

[Gary@Millwall]

Excitement At Den With Transfers Being Agreed Millwall Fans Get First Look At Season Five Squad From Millwall TV+

All preseason transfers have been completed and with a little wait until official squads are updated, Millwall TV+ have decided to publish the season 5 squad so that the fans can start buying their merchandise for the upcoming season now just over a month away.

Windebank is about to start the 3rd season in charge at The Den and when offered the job under the remit of making Millwall a young up and coming side that can compete at the top end of the Championship, many in FFO scoffed that Windebank would be able to achieve that feet.

A successful manager who achieved that success by building squads with players that were 30 years of age or older, many in FFO questioned whether Windebank had the patience, appetite and transfer market skills to build a team full of potential superstars of the game.

Not only did Windebank have that mandate he also had to achieve other primary goals ranging from building one of the best academies and academy recruitment scouts he also was required to add the maximum 10K seats for the first 4 years in charge.

Windebank has achieved those objectives as well accumulating enough cash reserves to invest £124m over two close seasons to purchase two coaches, two scouts and add the maximum 20k seats FFO regulations allow.

This amazing feat means that Windebank only has to find the funds at the end of season 5 to add 10k more seats to the Den to increase capacity from 55k to 65k at a cost of £22m. Which going by Windebank's financial acumen should be easily achievable for the Mouth from the South.

Not only has he achieved that he has now built a squad in just 3 bonanza transfer windows that the oldest outfield player will be 25 years of age.

There were shouts from the FFO world that Windebank is no Nick Lovell, Ed Clark or the youth route legend Dave Phillips but maybe now the doubters maybe convinced that Windebank is on the road to building a top side from the bottom up in Bermondsey with his beloved Millwall.

Lets take a look at the squad built to take on the Championship for season 5.

R_Owusu_Oduro 21 NED 25 1 1 1 22 126 1 1 1

- First Team Keeper and Captain

S_Romero 20 arg 22 1 1 1 25 230 1 1 1

- Reserve Keeper promoted from Millwall Academy

B_Bialkowski 37 pol 18 1 1 1 30 526

- Backup Keeper retires EOS

A_Cissokho 20 fra 1 18 15 7 26 1 464 835 840

- First Team Defender promoted from Millwall Academy

P_Stenman 20 swe 1 17 16 4 24 1 945 123 673

- First Team Defender loaned from Manchester City 100% minutes required

M_Dagasan 20 Tur 1 18 14 3 29 1 766 983 42

- First Team Defender 46 appearances for the Club so far

T_Silva 20 bra 1 17 16 12 28 1 986 504 169

- First Team Defender loaned from Wolverhampton Wanderers 100% minutes required

D_Sanderson 25 eng 1 15 10 8 31 1 986 980 808

- Squad Defender 21 appearances for the Club so far

Cubero 25 esp 1 14 11 6 27 1 646 589 765

- Squad Defender 9 appearances for the Club so far

A_Wright 29 eng 1 14 11 10 31 1 650 615 198

- Squad Defender 3 appearances for the Club so far

J_Simpson 28 eng 1 13 10 6 23 1 337 713 946

- Squad Defender

P_Foden 25 eng 1 6 21 20 28 1 432 752 774

- First Team Midfielder

S_Vos 20 ned 1 18 19 4 25 1 892 595 827

- First Team Midfielder 48 appearances for the Club so far

Y_Kabadayi 21 ger 1 9 19 15 31 1 390 786 833

- First Team Midfielder 84 appearances for the Club so far

R_Esse 21 eng 1 8 19 15 25 1 308 79 272

- First Team Midfielder 90 appearances for the Club so far

J_Cardy 20 fra 1 14 17 5 26 1 278 317 390

- Squad Midfielder promoted from Millwall Academy

J_Brownhill 30 eng 1 7 15 10 24 1 505 946 303

- Squad Midfielder 9 appearances for the Club so far

F_Onyedinma 26 nig 1 8 14 10 23 1 383 457 521

- Squad Midfielder 4 appearances for the Club so far

S_Tronstad 29 nor 1 11 13 2 27 1 492 530 592

- Squad Midfielder 4 appearances for the Club so far

J_Rossiter 28 eng 1 10 12 7 25 1 749 212 59

- Squad Midfielder 2 appearances for the Club so far

A_Emakhu 21 ire 1 5 14 20 30 1 552 702 156

- First Team Striker 89 appearances for the Club so far

D_Watmore 31 eng 1 4 8 15 23 1 552 458 611

- Squad Striker 17 appearances for the Club so far

E_Baldini 28 ita 1 7 12 14 28 1 406 581 506

- Squad Striker 1 appearance for the Club so far

Millwall TV+ View

The team Windebank has assembled could well be one of the youngest sides going into season 5.

Millwall look a bit light up top but with rumours Windebank has a auction war chest of £60m it will be interesting to see if he is going to take a gamble in a striker, although the rumour mill suggests he is still targeting Washington at Bayer Leverkusen although it is very unlikely Tim Davey would let the much sought after 20 year old leave Germany.

However the fanbase will have no concerns and will be trusting Windebank especially seeing how he as taken a introduce squad of journeymen with limited talent and turned them into a team rich in potential and eleven players being due EOS rerates albeit two that are on loan.

Is this team good enough to have a push for promotion this season? It is very unlikely but with the high secondary skills throughout the team Windebank will have the flexibility to play multiple tactics and formations.

With 55,000 packed in the Den each home game and an excited fanbase there is a lot of hope that Millwall can finish in one of the play off spaces this season and maybe higher depending on Windebank's plans for the auction.

November Media
Season 4 Review - 975 Words
Season 5 Close season preparation - 763 Words
Silvano Vos - 553 Words
Phil Foden - 489 Words
Season 5 Squad - 1080 Words

Total Words November - 3,860 Words

[Gary@Millwall]

Excitement at The Den for 2025 and Season 5 Millwall Team

With just three days to go until the season 5 kick off and a tough away trip to Portman Road to face Ipswich Town under the caretaker management of Wolfsburg boss Jason Hopton, we take a look at Millwall's starting team.







Shirt Number 1

Goalkeeper - Rome Jayden Owusu Oduro

Club Captain 21 year old Dutch Keeper starts the season as 25 rated with 126 keeper abs.

With an inexperienced defensive line in front of him it is expected that Rome Jayden will face a lot of shots this season, the question is can Rome Jayden keep them out the net.

If Rome Jayden is up to the task both himself and his defensive teammates could be in line to have a abs laden season.

Shirt Number 2

Right Back - Stenman

Swedish 20 year old right back on a season long loan from Manchester City could be pivotal to Millwall's success both defensively and going forward.

Stenman should rate up within the first couple of games demonstrated by the starting stats of this exciting prospect TK 17 PS 16 SH 4 TAB 945 PAB 123 SAB 673

Stenman has a huge amount of potential and Windebank will be hoping he can develop him enough to convince Nick Lovell that another seasons long loan next season would serve his recently promoted academy player well.

Shirt Number 3

Left Back - Aly Cissokho

This is academy promoted player Aly's first season as a professional and there are high hopes for him at The Den. Aly will be looking to form a great partnership with left winger Romain Esse not just over the coming season but for many seasons to come.

If Aly can kick off the season in good form he should become a more effective passer of the ball and starts with the following stats TK 18 PS 15 SH 7 TAB 464 PAB 835 SAB 840

The Den faithful will be hoping the young Lion cub puts in performances that are way beyond his years and that will be required if the Lions are to progress this season.

Shirt Number 4

Central/Defensive Midfielder - Enzo Fernandez

New signing and one of Millwall's star players had a great training camp and will start the season higher rated than the current roster. Enzo can play as a central midfielder or defensive midfielder depending on what formation Windebank decide to play.

Enzo is bound to be one of the top selling shirts this season and should really help Windebank's young chargers develop with the following stats TK 17 PS 22 SH 12 TAB 1 PAB 1 SAB 1

It will be interesting to see if the Lions can hold onto this triple rated midfielder as he could command a starting birth at 90% of FFO Clubs.


Shirt Number 5

Central Defender - Thiago Silva

The second of Millwall's loan signings, this time from Ray Wallace's Wolverhampton Wanderers. Silva promoted from the Wanderers academy comes to The Den looking to become a regular player for the Wolves.

Thiago is miles off of Premier League standard and starts the season on the following stats TK 17 PS 16 SH 12 TAB 986 PAB 504 SAB 169

Windebank will be hoping to develop Silva enough that he will be able to convince Ray that a 2nd season loan at the Den would be in the Wolves managers and players interest.

Shirt Number 6

Central Defender - Muhlis Dağaşan

Muhlis had a great breakthrough season last season and is the only defender that remains from the FA Cup and FLT Cup semi-final heroics.

The Turkish 20-year-old defender had a great pre-season training camp where his stats are better than the current roster suggests TK 19 PS 15 SH 3 TAB 1 PAB 1 SAB 42

Muhlis is the star defender and will be a mainstay in the starting lineup which should add to his current forty-six appearances for the South East London Club.

Shirt Number 7

Right Winger - Yusuf Kabadayı

Yusuf is entering his third season with the Lions and has been a key player for the Lions since being signed in the first bonanza the Lions participated in following election to FFO and signed from Schalke.

The 21-year-old right winger was another player to have a great pre-season training camp and will start the season with the following stats TK 9 PS 20 SH 16 TAB 390 PAB 1 SAB 1

Yusuf’s has made the third highest appearances for the Lions from the current Squad and the fourth highest in the Clubs history.

At 84 appearances and signed to a long-term five-year contract Yusuf will surpass one hundred appearances this season and will be looking to add to his nine goals and thirteen assists for the Club.

Shirt Number 8

Central/Attacking Midfielder - Moussa Diaby

Another new signing at The Den sees Frenchman Moussa bring a huge amount of class to the Millwall midfield.

Like Enzo he brings a lot of age and experience and is one of the elder statesmen at 25 years of age with some astonishing stats TK 3 PS 21 SH 19 TAB 788 PAB 405 SAB 472

Not historically known for a lot of goals the Millwall faithful will be hoping Moussa not only creates opportunities but also hits the back of the net on a regular basis.

Shirt Number 9

Striker – Aidomo Emakhu

A mainstay of Windebank’s Lions and Club record goal scorer with thirty-five goals in eighty-nine appearances.

Aidomo knows where the net is and at 21 years of age gets his last season of end of season abs at the end of season 5. He has been nurtured well by the Lions and starts the season with the following stats
TK 5 PS 14 SH 20 TABS 552 PAB 702 SAB 156

Aidomo will be looking to setup a prolific partnership with the Lions purchased star striker and will want to be the Clubs leading scorer for the third season in a row which should bode well for Millwall as Rasmus Hojlund will want to be the leading scorer as well.

Shirt Number 10

Striker – Rasmus Hojlund

The close season signing that fills the Den faithful with the most excitement and the player with the most quality Windebank has signed so far in his tenure at the Club.

Rasmus at just 23 years of age still has the FFO world at his feet and has set himself a personal target of twenty goals in his first season at the Den. With season 5 starting stats of TK 8 PS 18 SH 22 TAB 310 PAB 281 SAB 191

Rasmus should terrorize opponents this season and hopefully his goals will propel Millwall to their highest League finish so far.

Shirt Number 11

Left Winger – Romain Esse

Another mainstay and leading in the appearance for the Club in the current roster with ninety appearances.

Romain is 21 years of age and needs another stella season to maximise his last lot of ends of season abs and starts the season with the following stats TK 8 PS 19 SH 15 TAB 308 PAB 111 SAB 272

The Millwall fans have a great affinity with Romain and being part of the most skill full midfield and attack ever to grace the Den there are high hopes Romain with have a stella season.

We caught up with Windebank and he had the following to say.

We had a great season in the cups last year reaching two cup semi finals and finishing 12^th in the League the same as our first season in FFO.

This is a long-term project, and it has taken me three bonanzas’ to finally shape the playing squad first eleven to how we will start the season.

I am taking a significant risk in starting the season with four 20-year-old defenders and the weakest defence in the whole of FFO.

This however is a calculated risk due to the quality we have in goal, midfield, and attack as we should have the ability to play vindaloo football and go into every game hoping to score one more than the opposition.

Two of our 20-year-old defenders are on loan but when the Nick and Ray see how well we develop Stenman and Silva I am sure we should secure them for a second season loan. Obviously, our main goal is to secure enough cash to convince Nick and Ray to sell them to us at the end of season 6 but that is a long time away.

With our oldest three players being Enzo Fernandez and Moussa Diaby at 25 and Rasmus Hojlund at 23 we are well set for now and in the future.

Unless we receive bids that help me take Millwall forward I do not expect to buy or sell any players during the season and try to accumulate cash as we are forecast to make a reasonable profit not accounting for end of season prize money or another great cup run season.

We will be in a unique position as a Club as we are fully loaded with two coaches and two scouts and with planning permission already secured to increase the Den to a 65,000-seat stadium, I only need to direct £22m to infrastructure costs at the season end.

We have worked extremely hard as a Club to laid down and enact our playing and financial model and now we have the foundations we required put in place within three bonanzas.

We have been very vocal that our academy is where our primary focus was going to be and our signings this bonanza reflects the trajectory we are going as a Club.

We have the following players in our academy that will shape our future.

Goalkeeper - Vítor Baía

Our scouts worked day and night scouring world football, and we offered 17-year-old Portuguese keeper Vitor Baia an academy contract this close season.

ST 21 KAB 663

We are optimistic for Vitor, and he is aware that he is under no pressure to progress to the first team due to Club captain Rome Jayden Owusu Oduro being only 21 years of age himself.

Vitor will be given the time, and we will use our exceptional coaching staff to really make the most of the 30 weeks training. If he progresses as well as we hope, he will be a natural replacement to Owusu Oduro if we ever decided to raise funds in the future if one of the big boys ever come knocking.

Defender - Emmanuel Eboué

Emmanuel’s is only starting his second season in our academy, and we hope he will continue to progress as well as his first season.

With 25 weeks training Emmanuel increased by one stat on all three disciplines gaining the following abs TAB 1,106 PAB 616 SAB 353

Emmanual starts the academy season with the following stats.

Age 18 - TK 17 PS 14 SH 7 TAB 975 PAB 429 SAB 182

We are hopeful that the extra 20% training weeks will be reflected with a 10%-15% increase in abs earned at the worse case scenario. Which over two seasons he should be ready to promote to our first team if we are unable to secure the permanent signing of current loanee right back Stenman when we are legally able to do so and of course if Manchester City would be willing to sell.

Defender - Ștefan Radu

Stefan can play at left back and centre back, but we are currently unsure if he will make the grade to be a first team player next season and will stay in the academy until he turns twenty-two.

With 25 weeks training Stefan increased by one stat on tackling and passing gaining the following abs TAB 1,079 PAB 663 SAB 336

Stefan starts the academy season with the following stats.

Age 19 - TK 17 PS 12 SH 12 TAB 480 PAB 559 SAB 952
Although Stefan gets 30 weeks training and us having the same hopes of the impact of that extra 20% training on all our academy players, Stefan knows that he must work extremely hard if not harder than others if he is to have a long-term future at the Den.

Central/Defensive Midfielder - Andrés Guardado

Mexican wonderkid Andreas is by far the star of our academy and should be in our first team by season 7 at the age of 20 years of age.

With 25 weeks training Andreas increased by two stats on passing and one stat gaining the following abs TAB 646 PAB 1,280 SAB 392

Andreas starts the academy season with the following stats.

Age 18 - TK 16 PS 19 SH 3 TAB 73 PAB 53 SAB 664

Andreas is exactly why we set our model when we got elected to FFO, he is one of a few players that get scouted across FFO that can become a special player.

With the fact that FFO rules implicitly enforce academy player cannot be promoted to the first team until they turn twenty, we purchased Enzo to not only mentor Andreas but so we could sell Enzo onto a bigger Club for much needed funds once Andreas makes the jump into the first team.

Central/Attacking Midfielder - Adrián Ricchiuti

Like Stefan Radu, Adrian is way off the standard to become a first team player and we have grave concerns that he will ever make the grade to play for our Club.

With 25 weeks training Adrian only increased by one stat on passing gaining the following abs TAB 417 PAB 1,145 SAB 707

Adrian starts the academy season with the following stats.

Age 19 - TK 5 PS 17 SH 14 TAB 522 PAB 831 SAB 798

We must be realistic even with 30 weeks training and promoting Adrian to the first team when he turns twenty-two, he will not be catching up Moussa who will only be 28 years of age. We are hoping however that he will be able to sell him on to recoup enough money to invest in a coach or put towards Stadium Capacity increases.

Due to the lack of quality one of our scouts are searching the world to bring in an attacking midfielder to our academy in the close season to eventually replace Moussa which is why we invested so heavily in bringing Moussa to our Club with him being the perfect age of twenty-five.

Striker – Michael Owen

Our scouts pulled off a major coup finding Michael Owen and it was a no brainer to sign him up to our academy.

He starts the first academy season with our Club with the following stats.

Age 17 – TK 7 PS 13 SH 18 TAB 641 PAB 503 SAB 434

We are really excited about Englishman Owen and really look forward to seeing him develop over the next three seasons at 30 weeks training.

With Aidomo and Rasmus being so young as well, we are hopeful that Michael’s development is rapid, and he will be ready for the first team when he turns twenty. This again will validate our foundational model as Rasmus would only be 26 years of age and potentially one of the most sort after strikers in the game. If that scenario played out, we could really take the Club forward with selling Rasmus for a huge sum in the season 10 bonanza.

Striker - Robin van Persie

We are hoping the arrival of Michael Owen will have a positive impact on Dutch striker Robin Van Persie.

With 25 weeks training Robin increased by one stat on all three disciplines gaining the following abs TAB 488 PAB 657 SAB 1,194

Robin starts the academy season with the following stats.

Age 19 - TK 8 PS 13 SH 18 TAB 370 PAB 475 SAB 445

With two quality strikers in the first team and Michael Owen arriving in the close season Robin is really going to have to work hard to demonstrate he can break into the first team and build a flourishing career at the Den.

If he has a great 30 week training season this year we may look to promote him at the end of the season and send him out on loan to help accelerate his development, but as we have explained to Robin he has to blow the doors off this season to give us the opportunity to do that.

Striker - Aiden McGeady

Aiden’s pathway to the first team looks extremely limited and we are hoping he takes the challenge on to maximise his opportunities at the Club.

With 25 weeks training Robin increased by one stat on tackling and shooting gaining the following abs TAB 431 PAB 594 SAB 1,239

Aiden starts the academy season with the following stats.

Age 19 - TK 8 PS 14 SH 17 TAB 38 PAB 832 SAB 884

Aiden is likely to stay in the academy until he turns twenty-two and will be sold to finance the employment of a new coach or scout as I really cannot see him being good enough to play for the Club.


Overall, the future looks very bright for us as a Club, and we are starting to see a conveyor belt of talent that should have a stella career in Bermondsey as they will be taught the Millwall way.

We are realistic and know that some seasons we will not get the academy talent we want, and most academy players will not make the grade as we progress as a Club.

As the fans can see above we have planned for this and built the side over the three bonanza’s to maximise our development, we are at a stage where we want to be competing in the Premier League but have to be honest our weakness in defence maybe our downfall this season despite us being convinced that this is the way forward for our Club.

We are certainly aiming to break into the top six at the very least as we want DBC football at the Den next season at the bare minimum.

The future is bright, and the fans can buckle up their seat belts and get ready for a great ride in season 5.

January 2025 Media

Season 5 Excitement - 3,041 Words
Millwall League Game 1 Word Count - 323
FA Cup Round 1 Word Count - 347
Leipzig League Game 1 Word Count - 335 Words
EFL Cup Round 1 Word Count - 182 Words

January Total Words 4,228