The day after relegation to the Fourth Division, Billy Gray pruned the professional staff from 29 to 14. Amongst the unlucky 15 listed were Dave Jones, Pat Terry, Joe Haverty, Des Anderson, John McLaughlin breaking up the team built by Ron Gray.

"We must climb out of the Fourth Division or it could be the end of the club", stated Chairman Micky Purser. During Millwall's last spell in Division Four the average home gate was 11,583, whilst the away average was 6,022. At this time gates receipts were split, meaning they had to share their relatively healthy home receipts in return for a meager share of away gates.

To make matters worse the Fourth for season 1964-65 was almost totally composed of Northern and Midland teams with the only local clubs being Aldershot and Gillingham.

Millwall had also agreed the previous season, before they were relegated, to fall into line with other London clubs in charging 4/- (20p) to stand on the terraces.

Despite the good league form, Millwall were attracting the wrong sort of headlines and starting to have a growing reputation for Hooliganism.

At Brentford on November 6th an hand grenade was hurled into the home team's penalty area after Curran had scored the Lions equalising goal in a 2-1 win. Goalkeeper Chic Brodie picked it up, inspected it, and then tossed it into the net. PC Pat O'Connell removed it from the rigging, placing it in a handy bucket of sand and took it to the nearby station where it was confirmed as harmless dummy.  Most people in the crowd were unaware of any commotion. However the Sunday papers went to town. "Handgrenade Shames Football", "Soccer Marches to War" were the headlines.

Millwall had progressed to the fourth round of League Cup disposing of Oxford (A) 1-0, York (H) 4-1 and Second Division Middlesbrough  after a replay 0-0 (A) and 3-1 (H) after extra time.

Millwall were drawn away to Peterborough but were to be without Stepney who was making his debut for England's under-23's against France at Carrow Road. (where he kept a clean sheet). Millwall without a regular reserve keeper, called on Brian Gambrill, an amateur keeper serving in the 

Parachute Battalion in  Aldershot. He had a game to forget and was involved in 3 defensive mix ups which saw the Lions three down at the interval and beaten Millwall lost 4-1 at full time.

Millwall were out of luck to in the FA Cup. They beat non league Wealdstone 3-1 at the Den, but became one of non league cup giant killers Hereford scalps in at 1-0 defeat at Edgar Street. That December saw many games fall victim to the weather and Millwall played only once more before Christmas, a 1-1 draw at home to Walsall thanks to a Curran goal.

start of the season. Cripps was now handed the captaincy of the first team and made the number three shirt his own.

Millwall tasted success playing a long ball game with a couple of speedy of wingers, Neil and Rowan and  briefly went top of the table after 16 games with a 2-1 win away at Bradford City 

with  two goals from Billy Neil.

However a few weeks later the wheels seemed to have came off the wagon following a 4-0 thrashing at leaders Bradford Park Avenue. At home Millwall remained unbeatable dispatching Halifax 5-1  and Chesterfield 4-2. Len Julians scored Millwall's only hattrick of the season in the win over Halifax and had two other efforts ruled out. Away from home, Millwall were struggling, and three further away defeats on the trot at Doncaster (0-4), York (1-3) and Brighton (0-2) meant that by Mid-January Millwall had lost six games and pick up a modest 11 points  on their travels.

Millwall's unbeaten home record with 9 wins and 4 draws kept them in the promotion hunt in 6th place. At this stage Millwall's home record was overshadowed by Tranmere who had won their first 15 home games with 55 goals for and 12 against.

Alex Stepney was beginning to make a name for himself, saving his fourth spot kick of the season in the 2-1 win over Lincoln on the 2nd January, two others had been previously missed.

Millwall had won through to round 3 of the FA Cup, beating Kettering and Port Vale at the Den and were drawn away at First Division Fulham.  Things looked grim for the Lions as they fell two behind in first half before Curran cashed in on the keepers error to make it 2-1. 

In the second half  a Harry Cripps penalty was saved and it looked all over for the Lions when Stratton made it 3-1 soon after. Millwall hit back  it the last half hour of the game. Whitehouse scored from 25 yards and near the end Whitehouse was on hand to score his second after another by Fulham keeper Macedo.

The replay on the Monday drew a crowd officially logged at 31,339, 10,000 greater than the game at Craven Cottage, but probably 15,000 greater as around 5,000 fans gained free entry via a broken gate.

Millwall took the game to Fulham, who had England Stars Johnny Haynes, Bobby Robson and George Cohen in their line up, despite a first half injury to Harper,  which in the days before substitutes left him a passenger  who was moved to centre-forward for nuisance value. Some nuisance value he turned out to be as he latch onto a mis-hit Rowan shot to put Millwall into the lead. With Fulham leaving themselves open in the dying minutes in a bid to find an equaliser, Harper, 

With Millwall and Hull City neck and neck at the top of the table, Billy Gray decided to changes the team around.  Hugh Curran  was sold to Norwich City for £12,500.  In came 20 year old Irishman Eamon Dunphy, for £8,000, who had spent just one season at York City since his move from Man Utd. His signing was a risk in that he was not a straight replacement for Curran, more of a midfield playmaker, not the all action hero the Millwall crowd had come to love.

Gray had intended to make a double swoop, but the board refused to release the £5,000 needed to sign 21 year old Rodney Marsh from Fulham. 

In a bold commercial experiment Millwall's fixture at Workington (up in Cumbria near Carlisle) on Friday 28th January,  the game was broadcasted back to the Den via close circuit Television on four giant screens.

Stand seats cost 12 Shillings each, the game was introduced by Danny Blanchflower, followed by a short film of Millwall training back at Cold Blow Lane, then live interviews with the managers and finally the match itself commentated by broadcaster Peter Lloyd with Ken Jones of the Daily Mirror.

The  event was fronted by DJ Pete Murray, a director of Sportscast Television, whose proposed the idea. The crowd at Borough Park was 4,323 while 9,134 watched at The Den and cheered their side as if the match was being played there. The game ended goal-less and the only hitch throughout had been problems with Workington players who demanded and got a television fee.

Director Bill Nelan was so overcome by the spectacle he told the board that all Millwall's away games should be covered the same way.

often as possible, tightly marking Robson on his deep runs and once they lost the ball, playing the ball quickly into the spaces the illustrious pair left behind. The team spent the entire week perfecting it in training and it payed off in the match.  

After the game Robson, unable to believe what had happened told reporters: "It was thoroughbreds against donkeys." On hearing this Gray sent a message back to Robson: "You're right, the donkeys had two tries....and still lost!"

However after the Lord Mayor's show Millwall let a 1-0 half time lead slip at the home to Third Division Shrewsbury to go out in the Fourth round.  Out of the Cup and with inconsistent League form Millwall were slipping down the table. Following the defeat at Promotion rivals Brighton, Millwall suffered two home draws against Oxford and Hartlepool, with a 5-0 win at struggling Barrow sandwiched in between but found themselves 7th in the table. (NB Hartlepool were known as Hartlepools United until 1968 then plain Hartlepool until 1977, then Hartlepool United)

The fans were becoming restless, convinced the club would miss out on promotion, formed a demonstration after the game against Millwall's directors who had announced that heroes Harper and Gilchrist could leave the club.

This was hardly the time to visit league leaders Tranmere, who made 18 home wins out of 18 with a 1-0 victory. (Stockport were to end their 100% record in the next home game and Oxford were to beat them in their final home game.)

The last weekend in March Millwall were at Loftus Road, where new signing Rodney Marsh scored his first-ever goal for Rangers after just three minutes and sent Q.P.R. on their way to a 6-1 victory. The game was continually held up by celebratory pitch invasions by Rangers fans.

The Tannoy announcer was instructed to broadcast by Match officials that the game would be abandoned if there were anymore pitch invasions. Being 6-1 down to their nearest pursuers in the promotion race it was too good an invitation to Millwall fans who poured onto the pitch and sat down.

With the police and QPR Officials at a lost of how get the game restarted, Millwall Manager Billy Gray took the microphone and appealed to the Millwall fans to acknowledge that Rangers were the better team on the day, but it would be Millwall's year for promotion. It worked at the Millwall fans returned to the Terraces and the final few minutes were played out.

On the team Coach returning from the game, Manager Billy Gray took exception to remarks made by a director and resigned as a matter of principle. Gray was persuaded by Chairman Purser to stay on until promotion was assured.

Gray improved the  squad by signing two forwards Jim Ryan from Charlton and Micky Brown from Fulham and this combined with Snowdon's return to fitness, propelled Millwall on an unbeaten run to the end of the season to clinch a promotion spot. Millwall won 9 and drew 6 of the 15 games scoring 27 goals and conceding only 7.

The run had been tense with several promotion rivals to play. Billy Gray came out of his half season retirement to play at Aldershot and remained in the team for the last four games at the request of the players to ensure promotion was achieved.

Millwall had one game still to play after their promotion rivals had completed their fixtures, away to Notts County on Thursday 29th April. This game had been abandoned because of a downpour earlier in the season with Millwall leading 2-1. A draw would see Millwall promoted at the expense of 4th placed Tranmere, whilst a win would see Millwall go above 2nd place York with superior goal average. Brighton had finished as Champions on 63 points, 1 point beyond Millwall reach at this stage.

The team did not disappoint the 2,000 traveling fans and won 2-1 to secure the runners up spot and promotion to Division Three. 

Curran was top scorer with 18 League and 1 Cup goals ahead 

did right, because if games are going to be abandoned due to the behaviour of supporters then we might as well pack up now."  

Things began to look tight with QPR winning the their next two games 4-1, whilst Millwall won at home to Brentford and drew away at Bournemouth. That left QPR Seven points behind with Four games in hand.

However Millwall maintained their nerve and in results throughout April won Five and drew Two of their Eight games, whilst QPR won Two, drew Two and lost Three of their Eight games. However trouble seemed to be following Millwall around, smoke bombs were thrown at Cold Blow Lane during the Brentford game and at Oxford fighting broke out within the ground.

In the Table Millwall were One point behind Hull but had played One more game and Eleven Points clear of QPR who had Seven games to play compared to Millwall Three. That meant Promotion was in our own hands, with three points needed due to our superior goal average.

Millwall's 4-1 victory over Walsall at Fellows Park saw Millwall promoted 12 Points clear of faltering QPR who had lost at Grimsby.  However Hull were still matching Millwall's results to stay One point clear.

 When Hull only drew their game in hand at Bournemouth there seemed to be a chance of a Championship Trophy, but Gray stuck to his principles and departed now promotion had been won. The players had written to the board asking them to reconcile their differences with Gray, but the board did nothing to talk him out of it, and he became Manager of Brentford.

Gray did not splash out in the close season, deciding to stand by the team that achieved promotion, although there were two additions. George Jacks, a forward signed from QPR and Bill Dodgin from Fulham brought in mainly as a coach but also as reinforcement to the defence.

Millwall started the season with a 2-0 win at home to Workington, with Jacks becoming the first Millwall player to appear as a substitute, coming on in place of the injured Jones.

Millwall defence were looking the part at the higher standard keeping five clean sheets in the first six games. Alex Stepney was outstanding and attracting the attention of the top clubs and the England Manager, Gilchrist restored to the formidable defence with Cripps, Snowdon and Wilson.

The final fixture saw Stepney rested and Gambrill given another chance, within days one of his host of first Division admirers came in for him and Stepney was off to Chelsea for a record fee of £50,000. Since joining from Tooting and Mitcham at the end of the 1962/63 Season, Alex had played in 137 consecutive League games, kept 51 clean sheets.

Below: Mansfield Players Applaud Newly promoted Millwall onto the pitch at the Den before Millwall's final home game of the 1965-66 season.