Millwall players were seen enjoying a night out hours after agonisingly missing out on a Championship play-off spot – with some fans unhappy about the celebrations and questioning whether they were ‘devastated’.
The Lions came close to sealing a place in the top six after going 3-1 up against Blackburn in the final game of the season – but ended up capitulating and losing 4-3 to Rovers, allowing Sunderland to take the final play-off spot.
After finishing the campaign the team decided to go on a night out to celebrate what was still an encouraging season – heading for dinner and drinks, followed by karaoke as they looked to cheer each other up.
Players also posed with their girlfriends outside the restaurant as they saw the bright side of their painful end to the season – before singing their hearts out at a karaoke bar with a rendition of Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver.
The fan who posted the video wrote: ‘They seem devastated’, with a smiling and crying emoji – hinting at sarcasm.
Millwall players were seen enjoying a night out just hours after missing out on the play-offs
Members of the team posed with their girlfriends as they looked to put their agonising end to the season behind them
It triggered a major discussion on social media, with the Millwall fan base split on whether or not the players had a right to celebrate following the major disappointment.
One fan was steadfast in his belief that the scenes were ’embarrassing’.
‘They should be ashmed,’ the user added.
Another agreed, writing: ‘If it was me, I’d be too embarrassed to go out. I’d want to go home, reflect on where we can improve as a team and then once everything settles down, take myself away. This is just begging for trouble.’
However, others were more understanding and reflective and pointed out that the players are just humans who deserve to relax after a tough season.
‘It’s their end of season social,’ one wrote. ‘They deserve to enjoy themselves after 45 weeks of graft.’
Another said: ‘They’re not mutually exclusive. Have a go at karaoke or be gutted.’
Millwall ended up finishing eighth after losing 4-3 to Blackburn on the final day – having originally led 3-1
‘Life is short,’ read another post. ‘Whilst the loss is painful, we’re all human and need to live life to the fullest despite what’s happened.’
Speaking about Millwall’s collapse against Blackburn, manager Gary Rowett insisted his players were ‘devastated’ at falling short and said they would ‘detatch emotionally’ once the dust had settled.
‘All I said to the players is that sometimes in these moments you have to feel a bit of this pain and think about how you can be better,’ he said. ‘You have to use that as a little bit of fire and motivation to be better.
‘If you’re a player then you’re just devastated that you’ve not been able to take the next step. There are probably so many things going through your head about what we could have done differently or better.
‘In a couple of days time, when a few of the lads are sat on a beach somewhere, they may start to reflect a bit more and detach emotionally. At the moment everyone in the club is just so disappointed that we got so close but couldn’t manage to get it over the line.’
Milwall boss Gary Rowett said his players were ‘devastated’ after the loss and that they would ’emotionally detatch’ in the coming weeks
Rowett admitted his team struggled with nerves and needed to show more calmness.
‘I felt that the second half needed to be calm, controlled and disciplined. We didn’t need to go chasing, we didn’t need to open ourselves up. What we needed to do is not make mistakes.
‘As soon as the second goal went in, you could see the nerves in the team,’ he said.
‘That little bit of space just opened up everywhere. Because Blackburn needed to win, they were able to play with a little more freedom, go more attacking with numbers and we had to go and deal with that defensively.
‘That was the disappointment. The goals were good strikes, but we’re disappointed that they scored from those positions. We didn’t get out to the ball quickly enough and we conceded from those areas, but that’s the game, you’ve got to go and handle those big moments.
‘Even at half-time, you could be 4-0 or 5-0 up, you’ve got to go and handle it, you’ve got to go and do the right things. You have to show an element of control and calmness, and that was certainly something that we needed to do a little bit better.’
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