It’s now time to kick off the third – and possibly final – season of my Football Manager 2024 series with Millwall!
It all went horribly wrong in the previous chapter, where a six-game losing streak curtailed our play-off challenge and plunged us into the bottom half of the EFL Championship. The chairman still gave me a new contract, but after two years of disappointment, the fans are losing their patience.
This chapter will open with the summer transfer window, in which I look to add more quality to a mediocre Millwall team. We’ll then see how those changes pan out as we kick off the 2025/2026 season with 10 league games, and the opening rounds of the EFL Cup.
It really is promotion or bust now. At the end of this season, either the Premier League or the scrapheap will beckon. Maybe the third time will be the charm…
SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW
TRANSFERS OUT
| DATE | PLAYER | NEW CLUB | FEE |
| 27 June | Romain Esse | Peterborough | Loan (Season) |
| 28 June | Tony Springett | Norwich | Loan End |
| 29 June | David Button | Retired | |
| 30 June | Adam Smith | Charlton | Free |
| 30 June | Ryan Leonard | Released | |
| 30 June | Duncan Watmore | Bradford City | Free |
| 30 June | Daniel Jebbison | Sheff Utd | Loan End |
| 1 July | Charlie Patino | Arsenal | Loan End |
| 1 July | Owen Beck | Liverpool | Loan End |
| 4 July | Abdul Abdulmalik | Mansfield | Loan (6 months) |
| 14 July | Yuki Soma | Kashima | £2.7m (£3.4m) |
| 17 July | Tom Leahy | York | Loan (Season) |
| 1 September | Liam Scales | Dundee Utd | £275k (£350k) |
First off, we didn’t have quite as big a clearout as last summer. Utility man Ryan Leonard said his goodbyes after seven years at The Den, while right-back Adam Smith and forward Duncan Watmore were also released.
My relationship with the talented but frustrating winger Yuki Soma had broken down, so I cashed in after one season and send him back home to Japan. Our only other sale saw backup defender Liam Scales return to the SPFL, joining Dundee United. It’s fair to say his Millwall career never really got going.
I also loaned out several youngsters – most notably Romain Esse. The 20-year-old winger stalled last season, but I hope he can rebuild his confidence in a League One promotion challenge with Peterborough. I also hope that the journos don’t ask me about Romain’s performances at every bloody press conference before every bloody match!
TRANSFERS IN
| DATE | PLAYER | LAST CLUB | FEE |
| 12 June | Luis Binks | Bologna | £2m |
| 25 June | Jarell Quansah | Liverpool | Loan (Season) |
| 1 July | Joe Hilton | Blackburn | Free |
| 3 July | Chris Wood | Nottm Forest | Free |
| 6 July | Simon Adingra | Brighton | Loan (Season) |
| 9 July | Jesurun Rak-Sakyi | Crystal Palace | Loan (Season) |
| 10 July | Fin Stevens | Brentford | Loan (Season) |
| 13 July | Morgan Fox | QPR | Free |
| 19 July | Sam Morsy | Ipswich | Free |
| 19 August | Isak Hansen-Aarøen | Man Utd | Loan (Season) |
| 25 August | Kieran Dowell | Rangers | £190k |
Our summer signings began with a big one, paying Bologna £2million for Scotland international Luis Binks. I felt we needed another strong left-footed centre-back to play either with or instead of captain Jake Cooper… and Jar-Jar’s tackling, bravery and aerial ability all fit the mould.
Another new centre-back – and the first of our five loanees – is the big and pacey Liverpool youngster Jarell Quansah. We also loaned in Manchester United’s Norwegian attacking midfielder Isak Hansen-Aarøen, while Brentford right-back Fin Stevens was promoted with Ipswich last term. I hope that’s a good omen…
And having decided to switch back to a 4-3-3 formation, I was after some birds of flight to play as wingers or inside-forwards. Brighton’s Simon Adingra and Crystal Palace’s Jesurun Rak-Sakyi are both very quick dribblers with great technique who should provide more support for a big man up front.
Big men don’t get much bigger than Chris Wood – the Kiwi target forward who finally returns to Millwall 13 years after a very prolific loan spell. Woody is accompanied by another couple of veterans in midfield aggressor Sam Morsy (another member of Ipswich’s promotion team) and former QPR left-back Morgan Fox. I hope nobody notices that Morgan is actually a West Ham fan.
Finally, I desperately wanted to re-sign winger Tony Springett from Norwich, so much so that I asked the chairman to negotiate a deal on our behalf. I was happy to pay a £3.3million transfer fee, but recoiled at Springett’s wage demands, and so he sprung off to Southampton on deadline day.
Instead, I dug through the bargain bin and picked up the versatile Kieran Dowell, who [checks notes] played ONE match for Rangers in the past TWO seasons. Sounds promising.
SQUAD
After two summers of upheaval, there are only about half a dozen survivors from my original Millwall squad. I have ripped up Gary Rowett’s team of average Championship players and brought in a motley crew of… well, slightly above-average Championship players.
Captain Jake Cooper enters his tenth season with Millwall and is very much here for the long haul, even if his central defensive partners come and go. Big things will be expected of another ‘original’ – vice-skipper Billy Mitchell – after a couple of mediocre campaigns from the combative midfielder.
Despite Fox’s arrival, left-back Joe Bryan still has a long-term future with us, as I’ve triggered a contract extension. However, the likes of goalkeeper Matija Šarkić and striker Tom Bradshaw are entering the final years of their contracts and will need to prove that they deserve extensions.
Šarkić has a particularly tough ask, seeing that number 1 Liam Kelly is probably our best player in terms of Current Ability. Kelly made a few howlers last season – particularly in big games – but his reflexes and positional awareness should hopefully win us more points than he costs us.
The board expectations are exactly the same as last season – finish in mid-table, and be competitive in the cups (whatever that means). As far as I am concerned, however, anything except promotion will be a failure. If we aren’t out of this God-forsaken division and playing in the Premier League next season, I am out of here!
Looking at our pre-season results, I might have every reason to be confident. Six wins out of six, just two goals conceded – it couldn’t have gone much better.
Reverting to a 4-3-3 worked particularly well against Celtic, whom we shut out for 90 minutes before Mika Biereth bagged a late winner on the break. We also stunned our South London rivals Crystal Palace, with Rak-Sakyi scoring TWICE against his parent club!
Of course, the media still think we’re no better than 14th. Have they written us off at their peril… or will this indeed be yet another mid-table slog?
AUGUST TO SEPTEMBER 2025: THIRD TIME LUCKY?
Well, then. We haven’t actually started this season too badly!
We began with a mixed bag of results in August – three home wins, and three disappointments on the road. Our only away point came at Stoke, where Andreas Müller‘s first Millwall goal fired us into a 2-0 lead before we threw it away late on.
In the EFL Cup, though, it was a very different story. After a late surge powered us to a 4-0 win at League One Huddersfield, we were drawn at home to top-flight Nottingham Forest in Round 2. That looked a winnable tie, but Wood was toothless against his former club as Forest cut us down.
Meanwhile, there was more bedlam in Bermondsey when Bryan and forward Aidomo Emakhu came into my office asking for new contracts. I guess it’s good that you can’t instantly talk them into backing down like you could on previous FMs, but I’m still quite annoyed.
With Bryan, I triggered his contract extension about three weeks before this happened. He was perfectly happy with that at the time… but now he isn’t? Joe can go sulk on the bench while Fox takes his place and racks up the assists instead!
As for Emakhu… look, mate. You’re on far too much money as it is for someone who’s barely developed and who’s not even a regular starter right now. If Aidomo wants an even better contract, he needs to earn it.
Following the first international break, we battled to a 1-1 draw at Hull, then reeled off three straight wins – including a thriller against Fulham, where we came from 2-1 behind to win it 3-2 late on. Emakhu scored the winning goal there, and then he scored this screamer to sink Blackburn at Ewood Park:
Oh, yes, it feels so great to show a highlight from which WE scored!
After the first 10 games of last season, we were scrapping to stay clear of relegation. 12 months later, we are back in the top four and looking like serious play-off contenders again!
As I mentioned earlier, we’ve gone back to a standard 4-3-3, and it seems to be working much better than it was during the beta. The wide forwards have added a lot more bite to our direct, high-tempo counter-attacks. Adingra hasn’t scored yet, but Emakhu has been in fine form on the left wing, while Rak-Sakyi on the right got five goal contributions in five games before his form tailed off.
In midfield, Müller has thrived as a mezzala, with his aggressive runs into channels giving us another scoring option. Even ball-winner Billy Mitchell is starting to play some more direct, incisive passes and rack up some decent match ratings.
While the low block and counter-attacking style is well-suited to frustrating stronger opponents like Luton and Blackburn, I also have a more positive version of this tactic that I’ve started using when we’re at home to weaker teams – or when we’re chasing games. With this one, the focus is on pressing higher up the pitch and asserting ourselves on our opponents.
I had a few complaints from Millwall fans last season about how we were too cautious in home games – and that we even looked like a visiting team at The Den on occasions. This term, we want our home to feel more like a fortress, and less like a bouncy castle.
I’ve got a much better feeling about this season. We’ve got every chance of a surprise promotion if we can can keep this good form going and find a few more goals – and if my players stop demanding new contracts!
Oh for God’s sake! Not you as well, Kelly!
That ends a surprisingly cheerful chapter… for the most part, anyway. I’ll be back soon as my third and final attempt at promotion with Millwall continues.
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