An opinion from a former Fulham defender about playing at Millwall’s Den as a home player

Joe Bryan, a defender for Millwall, shared his thoughts on his first impressions of being a home player at The Den.

The former Fulham full-back was released by the Premier League team and signed with the Lions in July.

Prior to the international break, Bryan, 30, scored Millwall’s equalizer in their most recent Championship match—a 2-2 tie with Hull City.

When asked about his impressions of playing at The Den this season, the former Bristol City player responded, “It’s been interesting,” to the South London Press. In a good way, the fans are highly enthusiastic, and on occasion, they have been quite irate.

“I’ve never been a player who, and this is important to understand, has responded negatively to fans’ applause or taunts, or who believes they are the greatest player ever or the worst in history. I’m there to play football, and I’ll do my best to win whether or not the crowd applauds. It won’t change the way I play; I won’t change.

“You could see how helpful and motivating the fans can be, especially in the second half against Hull when we really went after them and made a few changes to the pitch to be able to get after them.”

“Hopefully, we can keep up the intense game, and they can keep up their support as well, as it was very beneficial.

Prior to this Saturday’s meeting versus Preston North End, Millwall is ranked fifteenth.

Bryan believes the division has gotten harder since he last competed in it. Bryan has twice gained promotion out of the league with Fulham.

“Even facing Plymouth the other day, the caliber of teams advancing from League One is extremely, extremely high,” he stated. This season, the Premier League teams who are descending are exceptionally talented and of high caliber. The league has definitely accelerated in terms of both speed and overall intensity.

In the Championship these days, you very never face a genuinely awful squad; five or six years ago, there were a few of them.

The more elite players we have, the more interest there will be in English football, which is fantastic for both the sport and the fans.

The key lesson from that is that we’ve been a little let down by the way some of our performances have gone, particularly at home. It has taken some time for us to gel, possibly because we have a large group of newer players, but we are currently in a really excellent position to continue and advance.

The Championship is one of those leagues that, until November or December, doesn’t really appear to be anything. You truly have no idea who is who or where things are.

After the international breaks—this one and the one in November—you are in a pretty excellent position as long as you are gaining ground and settling in. At that point, the real action begins and you can see how the league table will look.