TOWN ARE AMONGST A CLUTCH OF CHAMPIONSHIP CLUBS CHASING ROTHERHAM’S NINE GOAL STRIKER

LET me tell you a familiar story.

Sometime in the mid-1880s, a group of industrious workers at the JT Morton’s canning and preserve factory in the East End of London held a meeting in an old tavern called The Islander – out of that meeting a football club was born.

The task of bringing some order to this ragtag bunch of working men, who had taken to calling themselves Millwall Rovers, fell to the landlord’s son, a 17-year-old by the name of Jasper Sexton.

By all accounts he seems to have done a pretty good job, especially for somebody so young.

Thanks to Sexton’s donkeywork, Rovers played their first competitive match on October 3, 1885, on a tract of disused wasteland – they lost 5-0.

I’m not sure whether Sexton blamed the pitch – but you know what they say it’s the same for both teams — but since that defeat the club has dropped the ‘Rovers’ from its name, done its fair share of groundhopping, won a few trophies and gained a bit of a “reputation”.

And now, in 2017, all that blood and toil and sweat, all that history, hangs in the balance.

Last September Lewisham Council gave the go-ahead for a controversial plan that will see the New Bermondsey area of the borough undergo extensive redevelopment.

This entails the council issuing a compulsory purchase order on behalf of offshore developer Renewal to seize land currently leased to or belonging to Millwall Football Club.

Such a move would reportedly have negative long-term consequences for the club’s youth academy and threaten to undermine the good work done by the Millwall Community Trust.

The upshot of this is that the club may be left with little option but to relocate, and with land in the capital at a premium, relocation could mean saying goodbye not just to Lewisham, but to London. Indeed, Millwall’s chief executive, Steve Kavanagh, has even mooted the north Kent coast as a potential destination — an exodus that would almost certainly guarantee the death of the club or the emergence of some kind of ‘MK Dons Mark II’.

Now you might be wondering what any of this has to do with Huddersfield Town. Well, let me tell you, the answer is simple – this is the thin edge of the wedge.

If Lewisham Council succeeds it will send a signal to all those unscrupulous folks out there that working-class institutions, and the complex ecosystems they support, are up for grabs.

With the final decision postponed until February, there’s still a chance to write a different story and HTSA will be lending our support to the Back The Den campaign.

If you would like to join us and thousands of others, visit change.org to sign the petition.

HTSA will be running a coach to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. Members can reserve a seat for £9, while non-members can get one for £11.

We will once again be offering a choice of two pick-up points. The coach will depart from Gooder Street in Brighouse town centre at 11.55am before stopping off at the stadium at 12.15pm.

You can book by ringing our Travel Line on 07905 580784 or emailing Robert Pepper at repepper.rep@gmail.com HUDDERSFIELD Town have had a £1m bid for Rotherham United striker Danny Ward rejected, according to reports.

A number of media outlets suggest Town are keen to see the 26-year-old to return to the John Smith’s stadium this January transfer window.

And with the forward out of contract at the New York Stadium at the end of the current season, Town appear keen to steal a march on fellow Championship suitors Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town, Derby County and Wolverhampton Wanderers for the player’s services.

The Bradford-born player has been a shining light in a dismal campaign for the Millers – netting nine times for the bottom of the table side.

One of these came against Town in his side’s 2-1 defeat at the John Smith’s in September with head coach David Wagner impressed with his performance during the encounter.

Ward has scored 16 times in 78 games for Rotherham United, who signed him from Town for a reported £375,000 two years ago.

He played 140 games (95 starts), netting 21 times, for Town, who signed him for a suggested £1m from Bolton Wanderers in 2011 and often used him out wide.

Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner says there’s plenty more to come from Jack Payne.

The former Southend United forward scored twice as Port Vale were beaten 4-0 in the third round of the FA Cup.

They were his first goals on home territory after he grabbed the winner at Newcastle United back in August.

The £500,000 summer buy notched 17 times for Southend.

With on-loan Chelsea forward Kasey Palmer for competition, Payne has had to be patient for Town’s ‘number 10’ slot, and has made eight starts and 10 appearances from the bench.

However Wagner, whose side are back on Championship duty at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, played both against Port Vale.

He had done the same in a training-ground friendly at Liverpool in September.

Both Payne and Palmer scored as Town won 2-1 at Melwood.

“That game was in my mind when I made my plans for Port Vale,” explained Wagner.

“They both did well in that