"To evolve" - Millwall told they what must change to make Premier League dreams viable | OneFootball

The Lions have been regulars in the Championship of late, with the top flight seemingly just out of reach

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It has now been 35 years since Millwall played in the top flight, with a two-year stint in the premier division in the late 1980s the high point of the club in recent history.

Since then, the Lions have been teetering between the second and third tiers, with the odd dalliance with a return to the top table, but never quite getting over the line.

The 24/25 campaign marks the Bermondsey outfit’s eighth straight season in the Championship, with five top-half finishes within that period, although the playoffs have always just been out of reach.

With that in mind, is the dream of Premier League football too much to think within the next five years? We spoke to Football League World’s Millwall fan pundit Chris Chapman - who runs YouTube channel Chat with Chaps - to get a view from The Den.

Millwall need to improve key areas before Premier League dream can become reality

The last season was a tumultuous one for all involved with Millwall Football Club, with the death of owner John Berylson just a month before the campaign began leaving the Bermondsey outfit in a prolonged period of mourning.

That feeling was echoed on the pitch, with Joe Edwards failing to get the best out of his squad, leading to the return of club legend Neil Harris to the dugout, who went on to secure a safe mid-table finish.

Despite that turnaround in the second half of the campaign, a return of four points from their first four games of the season could well point to another season looking over their shoulders rather than upwards

With the hallowed ground of the Premier League still just a distant pipe dream for the regulars in Cold Blow Lane, Chapman has a few ideas up his sleeve that he believes could help the club’s fortunes in the years to come.

The Lions fan said: “I think there are a couple of things we need to do before we can consider that being a viable opportunity for us.

“I think the first thing we need to do is we need to make more money as a club. The Berylson family [pictured] put a lot of money in every single season - you can see it on the books the club is running at a loss.

“While we have definitely increased our commercial viability, it is still not quite enough, and we need to be able to do things that continue to grow the amount of money coming into the club.”

Millwall need to rethink recruitment strategy

Millwall regularly field the oldest starting lineup in the Championship, with a number of wily campaigners plying their trade at The Den, as Harris relies on tried and tested faces at the level.

Romain Esse was the only teenager to start in the recent 4-3 defeat to Bristol City, with six players aged 30 or over in a side that had an average age of 29.3 years.

While players who have been there and done it can prove to be valuable in their own right, it reeks of short-sightedness in Chapman’s eyes, with players on their way down rather than up when they play for the Lions.

The exception to case will have been Zian Flemming, with the Dutchman making the move to Burnley on the last day of the summer transfer window, in a deal said to be worth £7 million.

But that transfer was very much the exception to the rule in Bermondsey of late, and the Lions fan believes that needs to change before any higher aspirations can be achieved.

He continued: “That leads on to point number two, which is that we need to evolve our recruitment strategy.

“Our recruitment strategy for the least three, four, five years since we have been in the Championship has been OK, but it has ultimately been putting sticky plasters over everything to build a squad for that season, there and then.

“It hasn’t been very long term in its planning, and because of that we are not speculating to accumulate; we aren’t buying a player, developing them and selling them on for a lot more money.

“We’ve just sold Zian Flemming [pictured], and I believe he is the first player in five years that we have sold for more than £500,000, which says a lot.

“So our recruitment strategy has got to go much younger; we have the oldest squad age in the league, and that is something that needs to evolve, but of course, you need the money in order to do that.”

Millwall need to address policy towards youth

As well as targeting younger players to be brought into the club, Chapman also believes the Lions need to work on their pathway from youth team to first team if the Premier League is to become reality.

Esse has been the shining light in that regard of late, with the 19-year-old shining bright since making the step-up to the professional game, while Billy Mitchell [pictured] and Danny McNamara have also impressed.

While it all feeds into the same point of trying to garner as much revenue as possible to reinvest into the side, Chapman has become frustrated with the lack of long-term planning at the club, with the next 12 months all that seems to be focused on as it stands.

He added: “The third point is, I believe we need to improve the quality of our training facilities, and our youth setup and infrastructure in order to develop more players, and in turn sell to bring more money into the club to reinvest.

“It’s all part of the same problem, but ultimately until we get that right; our recruitment, our youth setup is in a position where we can harvest some of the fruits of our labour a bit better, then we won’t have the money to invest in that recruitment strategy.”