Millwall's Away Form Key to Championship Play-Offs
Casper De Norre believes Millwall’s route back to the Championship play-offs runs straight through their away form – again.
Alex Neil’s side owned the road last season. No team in the division collected more points away from home: 41 from 23 games. Only champions Coventry City could match their 11 wins on opponents’ turf. That travelling edge dragged them into the promotion race and kept them there until the final week.
Now they want to turn that platform into something more.
Millwall pick up where they left off
The new campaign has started with a familiar pattern. Millwall went to Bristol City on Saturday and walked away with a 2-0 victory, a controlled, statement win that looked like a continuation rather than a reset.
"It's very important if you want to achieve what we're trying to achieve to go and get into those play-offs again," De Norre told BBC Radio London, the emphasis clear. The standard has been set. Matching it is the minimum.
"You have to be very good both at home and away, so it's very good that we can start with an away win," the 29-year-old added. For a club that has built its identity on making The Den an ordeal, the idea of Millwall as away specialists adds a new layer of threat.
At Ashton Gate, the performance matched the message.
"We're off to a perfect start. It's always a difficult game away at Bristol. I think the game just played out perfectly for us," De Norre said, reflecting the sense of a plan executed rather than a smash-and-grab.
Small margins, bigger ambition
The scars from last season are still fresh. Millwall missed automatic promotion by a single point, edged out by Ipswich Town for second place in May. One more moment, one more result, and the conversation this summer might have been about Premier League planning rather than play-off positioning.
History hasn’t been kind in the play-offs either. Four times they have reached the semi-finals of the second tier. Four times they have fallen there. The club has not tasted top-flight football since 1990, a 36-year wait that looms over every near miss.
That context shapes the dressing room’s targets.
Asked about realistic expectations this season, with two extra play-off places now on offer, De Norre kept it simple: "Try to be a bit better than we were last year.
"Go into the play-offs and try and finish it in the play-offs rather than going out."
No grand promises. Just a clear demand: improvement, and a different ending.
The away form gave Millwall their shot last time. If they can summon that same ruthless edge on the road again – and finally break their play-off curse – this might be the year that 1990 stops being a reference point and becomes a line in the sand.
