Attack of the Rumour Mill

It’s not been a good week for Millwall fans. With rumours about player departures at a premium, Paul Ifill upped sticks and left for, er, sunnier climes in Sheffield for £800,000, leading many to believe that just about anyone will be sold if the right offer comes along. And those offers may well flood in this week after “Fan Friendly” Jeff allowed one of the club’s prized assets to walk away so cheaply.

Favourite to leave this week is Player of the Year Darren Ward, with several clubs thought to be after his services, including The Blades again. Crystal Palarse and Wet Sham United are also said to be in the running, which could see the club go full circle and return to the dark old days of the earlier 90s when some of our best players went to Selhurst Park in order to pay off an electricity bill.

And it doesn’t end there. David Livermore and Matt Lawrence’s talents have also been touted to Nottingham Forest while the rumours about Peter Sweeney leaving for Stoke City just won’t go away.

But hey, don’t worry. Contracts were given to Tony Craig, Terry Masteson, Ben May and Mark Phillips. Which means “Saint” Jeff isn’t just content to return to the 1990s… He wants to go all the way back to 1979.

On the manager front, the Stephen Constantine connections have faded away and the fact so many players have been sold/released/retained gives rise to the suspicion that a new gaffer has already been appointed on the inside… which can only mean one man – Alan McLeary.

Sheringham: Looking for another 30 pieces of silver

The press aren’t having any of it, though, and where there’s column inches to fill, there’s speculation on who will replace Dennis “Maybe the fans will start to believe my side of the story” Wise.

The Mail on Sunday reckons we have drawn up a short-list of three, headed by former Watford boss Ray Lewington while The News of the World insist that we’re after Yeovil Town’s Gary Johnson. Martin “Don’t Call Me Mad Dog” Allen is still playing down his chances while some Gillingham fans have infiltrated the message boards to let everyone know that Stan Ternant is our man. And there was also a very dodgy rumour about Teddy Sheringham coming back to manage us... The traitor.

Here at Millwall Mad, we still think its George Petchey. The fire sales have reinforced this believe tenfold and we’re already looking forward to next season’s relegation battle.