Millwall FC news: 'We don't want to leave New Den', insists chief executive Steve Kavanagh
Millwall chief executive Steve Kavanagh says the Sky Bet Championship club are 'heading in the right direction' in their bid to stay at the New Den.
Their future at the ground has been uncertain in recent years, with talk of Lewisham Council using a compulsory purchase order to buy land around the Bermonsdey ground.
The south London community strongly opposed proposals and the council’s plans to sell the leasehold land were dropped last year.
There has since been development talks, with the Lions appointing an architect firm in the summer to lead designs for an expansion of the stadium, which seats just over 20,000 fans.
Discussing their future at the New Den, Kavanagh insists the club want to stay put, telling Sky Bet’s YouTube channel: “I hope so, we don’t want to go anywhere.
“We’re in our community, it’s our home for 25 years now and it’s important to us to be here. We are wary, but positive [about the future].”
Providing an update on the club’s situation, Kavanagh continued: “There isn’t a compulsory purchase order (from the council), that has been taken away.
“There are good, constructive conversations with the council going on now and there is good dialogue, which is fantastic and a great move forward.
“The council, for a long time, have been asking us to put forward our plans for what we need as a club to be able to have the potential to play at the highest level – which every club has to aspire to – we are now doing that, we have architects fully engaged.
“That process is ongoing, but we have to be wary, I can’t have history repeat itself and as it stands there is still a conditional land sale agreement on our land.
“We are going to be wary, but hopefully positive news and moving into the right direction.
“This is a fantastic community club, we do a huge amount in the local community and we’re important to that community, the community is important to us. Therefore we need to be at the heart of what’s going forward, hence we’re putting our plans down so that then everything can evolve with us at the heart of it.”
Millwall odds this season
Neil Harris' side just missed out on the Sky Bet play-offs last season after a late surge, finishing eighth in the Championship.
They currently sit in the bottom three after collecting just six points from their opening 10 fixtures and they face an away trip to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday evening.
They are 3/1 for relegation, with Ipswich, Rotherham, Reading, Hull and Bolton all ahead of them in Sky Bet's market.
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Odds correct as of 1420 BST on 03/10/18
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