Bircham: My song's funny

By Stephen 18
February 4 2005

Marc Bircham will not play at the Den for QPR against Millwall, but he may hear his song ringing out around the ground! The former Lions favourite has admitted he enjoyed being sung about at Loftus Road. It was certainly a better song than "We've got Marc Birchio"!

The only regret Marc Bircham could possibly harbour is one that might be rued in advance of this weekend.

The 26-year-old gives out the aura of a man whose football career is the equivalent of winning life's jackpot.

Following up a playing experience at Millwall that he has repeatedly described as "the best team spirit any of us will ever have at a football club" with becoming a midfield mainstay for the local club he grew up supporting as a youngster in Hammersmith, Bircham understandably exudes the type of enthusiasm that would make a double or nothing bet in a west London casino a foregone success.

Couple this with a naturally chirpy, warm and trusting demeanour, then you get a smiling face and happy-go-lucky character that is as media-friendly as it is refreshing.

But right now, Bircham fears his utopian playing existence might be on the verge of diminishing.

It is only one game after all. But one game that fuses all of those happy memories together in front of supporters for whom he has the utmost respect for.
And Bircham is struggling to make it.

An English mid-winter takes its toll on everyone, and it would be foolish to suggest that footballers are any less human than the rest of us.

Just ask Millwall goalkeeper Andy Marshall, who last month endured a spell in hospital as he fought meningitis.

And then ask Marc Bircham how he is feeling, both physically and emotionally, at the viable prospect of being ruled out of the Queen's Park Rangers side that travels to the Den to face Millwall on Saturday.

The answer is concise. "Gutted," Bircham said. "I was really looking forward to it and the best I can hope for is to make the bench.

"I'd been at Millwall eight years when I left them, right from the youth team to the first team and I'll be gutted if I miss it."

Much as Marshall's illness took a few weeks before it was worked out, Bircham's condition is still baffling the doctors.

He has undergone a number of tests, but the player has an inkling that his problems date back to when he last played for Millwall three years ago.

"I had glandular fever in my last year at Millwall and missed the last few months", he continued. "Ever since then my immune system has been weakened.

"I caught this virus a couple of weeks before Christmas. I missed the game on New Year's Day but played two days later.

"I did well given I had a fever, and was shivering for five days after that. It was the longest five days of my life!"

Since then, Bircham has played only 20 minutes of football, and concedes that even that left him feeling "shattered" in the process.

Given that Rangers have also won their last two matches in his absence, the possibility of hearing 'that' song ringing around the Den in reference to this former player performing on pitch at his former home for the first time since leaving, is slim.

Ah yes, 'that' song. If Millwall Football Club achieves nothing this season, their fans would at least win any award for best new chant hands down.

In order to retain some civility, Bircham politely refers to it as 'that' song, where it's alleged that 'he's got a Lion on his arm and birds*** on his head' to be precise.

It was of course, the tune inaugurated on the away terrace at Loftus Road in November, to highlight the contradictions of having a Millwall tattoo on his bicep at the same time as supporting a blue and white Superhoops-coloured mohican hair style.

For the record, Bircham's first contest against his former teammates ended 1-1, but the most abiding memory of the game will always be the ditty that contributed to one of the best atmospheres in a Millwall game this season.

For a Soccer AM favourite, Bircham understandably sees the funny side of it.
He added: "It was a great atmosphere. Loftus Road is one of the best grounds because the fans are so close to the pitch.

"I enjoyed the reception I got from Millwall fans. They clapped me before the game, sung that song about me for 80 minutes and clapped me after.

"For Millwall fans to sing about someone for 80 minutes, it shows you some sort of respect. It was a funny song and I laughed about it."

Maybe the atmosphere was so good that evening because of the vast number of ties between the two clubs.

As well as Bircham's link, Millwall assistant manager Ray Wilkins played and managed at Loftus Road, and his left hand man Dennis Wise grew up in Kensington in a QPR-supporting family.

Furthermore, Bircham and Wise, who vied for the midfield bragging rights last November, knew each other long before professional football intervened.

"Dennis Wise's dad owned a pub in Ladbroke Grove and my dad would go around for a drink now and again," Bircham revealed.

"Dennis is a QPR supporter and I used to see him at QPR games in the past. He has done a really good job at Millwall."

Wise's success, particularly in reaching the FA Cup Final just six months after taking over at the Den, certainly constitutes a good job, but how does the house that Dennis built compare with the Premiership nearly men of 2002 that Bircham left when his contract had expired?

It is the only question he finds difficult to answer.

"You can't compare it because I don't really know what the current team is like", said Bircham. "All I can say is that I don't think the players in that team will get a better team spirit anywhere else, no matter where we all play for however many years, than that Millwall team.

"It was such a good team spirit on and off the pitch that it will always be remembered. We had just come out of administration and it was the same for the lot of us because we were all given a chance, and it was a case of whether we would sink or swim.

"We were in it together and it showed on the pitch. It's a similar situation to what I saw when I came to QPR.

"The club went into administration a couple of years before I came in, and Ollie [manager Ian Holloway] has come in and with nothing to spend has developed a great team spirit.

"Even teams like Milwall, with the signings of Barry Hayles, Scott Dobie and the high wages players like Wise will be on, have spent a lot of money, and to be up there in the league with them and West Ham is a great honour."

But the Lions class of 2002 will always live on, and not only in Bircham's imagination.

Every so often the group has a reunion where they reminisce about old times, and if this weekend turns out to be a quiet affair, a much larger one is due soon.

"I was so lucky to be at a club like that. Normally that would be the highlight of your career, but now I'm also doing something I've always wanted to do, which is playing for my home club.

"The Millwall lads all try and meet up often. We tried to arrange one before Christmas but because there were so many games we couldn't. We'll have to do it some other time before the end of the season.

"It's great to see Neil Harris, Steven Reid and Tim Cahill again, but I'm sure I'll see a few of the lads on Saturday."