Much changed Millwall at Turf Moor

After some delay, and a few refusals from potential new managers, Burnige made the obnoxious Steve Claridge the new manager and they started to prepare for the new season. That was until Burnige decided he didn’t want to be chairman any longer. In stepped Paphitis again and almost immediately he sacked Claridge, surely the first manager to get the bullet before a game has been played.

The new man was Colin Lee the former Wolves and Walsall boss. He had arrived the day before under the cover of being help for Claridge but was soon put in charge.

With all the change it is probably no wonder the season hasn’t got off to the best of starts and they are currently back on the bottom of the table although much of that is due to the home form and certainly not away from home where they remain unbeaten since August.

Taking over just ten days before the start of the season Lee was left in something of a rush to bring players in. Sammy Igoe had already arrived from Swindon, he was Claridge’s only signing, and on the day before the league season got underway there were two more new players in Don Hutchison, released by West Ham, and Jamie Vincent, a one time Burnley target, who had been at Derby.

After a poor start to the season they brought in two more players in the last few days before the transfer deadline. The first of them Wolves goalkeeper Paul Jones who signed on loan for two months and just this week he has extended that loan. Then former Gillingham striker Carl Asaba made the move from Stoke.

With results picking up Lee added three more emergency loan signings all on the same day in mid-September. Full back Phil Ifill signed from Spurs, Ady Williams from Coventry and midfielder Jermaine Wright was the third when he joined from Leeds.

Despite the better results they remain bottom of the league but there has been no problem away from home. They ended Wolves unbeaten run with a 2-1 win at Molineux before winning the next away game by the same score at Sheffield Wednesday. They have drawn three more away games since including the 0-0 draw in front of the Sky cameras at Plymouth on Sunday. It’s all so different at home where they are still to win a game and have just three points from the eight games played so far.

Click HERE to see all Millwall’s games this season.

Colin Lee will have to make at least one change to the side that drew at Plymouth on Sunday. Alan Dunne picked up his fifth yellow card of the season a week ago in their Carling Cup win at Mansfield and he will be suspended tonight.

However, Ady Williams looks set to be fit despite coming off during that game and the only players ruled out are Mark Phillips and Carlos Fangueiro. Jamie Vincent could return from injury via the subs bench.

The likely Millwall side is: Andy Marshall, Matt Lawrence, Ady Williams, Paul Robinson, Marvin Elliott, Phil Ifill, Jody Morris, David Livermore, Jermaine Wright, Carl Asaba, Barry Hayles. Subs: Paul Jones, Jamie Vincent, Tony Craig, Ben May, Don Hutchison.

Click HERE to see the full Millwall squad.

With Graham Branch still out both suspended and injured and John McGreal unlikely to be fit the chances are it will be the same Burnley side that won last Friday against Hull City. They are the only two players out apart from long term injury victims Wayne Thomas and Danny Coyne and there has been recent good news on Thomas suggesting he could be back within the next couple of months.

The Burnley team is expected to be: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Keith Lowe, Frank Sinclair, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, John Spicer, Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Garreth O’Connor, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs: Duane Courtney, Chris McCann, Danny Karbassiyoon, Nathan Dyer, Gifton Noel-Williams.

It was a 1-0 win just under a year ago with the winning goal coming from Robbie Blake with a penalty. It was our third successive 1-0 win, following games against Forest and Brighton, and the third consecutive game when the winner was scored by Robbie Blake.

The teams last season were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Gary Cahill, Frank Sinclair, Mo Camara, Lee Roche, James O’Connor, Tony Grant, Graham Branch, Ian Moore, Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Paul Scott, Joel Pilkington, Mark Yates, Amadou Sanokho, Matt O’Neill.

Millwall: Graham Stack, Kevin Muscat, Mark Phillips, Darren Ward, Matt Lawrence, David Livermore, Josh Simpson (Paul Ifill 58), Marvin Elliott (Danny Dichio 62), Jo Tessem, Barry Hayles, Scott Dobie (Adrian Serioux 73). Subs not used: Andy Marshall, Jody Morris.