The mood among Millwall fans has turned decidedly sour after what one supporter has described as "a rough three weeks" for the Championship club. Will Scott, a Lions fan, spoke to BBC Radio London to put the terrace view into words, and it is not a comfortable listen for anyone connected with The Den.

What has gone wrong?

The recent weeks have underlined one of the persistent truths of Championship football: form turns quickly, and sentiment turns with it. Millwall have been here before, grinding out results when confidence is low, but that knowledge does not make the current spell any easier to stomach for supporters who pack into SE16 expecting a fight.

A look at what the last few weeks have produced tells a familiar second-tier story. The Lions were held to a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough, a result that felt more like two points dropped than one gained. Before that, a 3-1 defeat to Blackburn left manager Tony Mowbray publicly acknowledging that his side had been outplayed. Back-to-back results of that kind are enough to shift the mood in any dressing room, let alone on the terraces.

Three weeks of patchy football does not constitute a crisis, and it would be wrong to pretend it does. But it is precisely the sort of run that, if left unchecked, starts to drag a club away from the positions it is targeting and towards the ones it is desperate to avoid. The Championship table offers no sentiment whatsoever: points not taken now are rarely recovered later.

A familiar feeling at The Den

Millwall supporters are not naive. They understand the division as well as any fan base in the second tier. They know that a run of three or four games can flatter a side just as easily as it can deceive one. The concern is not panic but rather a clear-eyed recognition that the standards expected under the current setup have not been met in recent weeks.

Scott's comments on BBC Radio London reflect what many Lions fans are saying among themselves: there is frustration, but it is measured frustration. The kind that comes from watching a club that has the tools to do better fall short of what those tools should produce. Whether that frustration translates into pressure the manager must respond to will depend largely on what the coming fixtures bring.

The bigger picture

The Championship is an unforgiving division at the best of times. Any side that strings together four good performances tends to find that those performances are followed, with ruthless regularity, by a stumble. That is not cynicism; it is pattern recognition built from watching this division over many seasons. Millwall, like every other club in the second tier, cannot afford to treat a short good run as a problem solved, nor a short bad run as a catastrophe.

What the fans rightly demand, regardless of results, is effort, organisation and a clear identity on the pitch. When those things are absent, the terraces notice before the statistics confirm it. Scott's interview suggests that right now, supporters are noticing.

The coming weeks will tell a great deal. If Millwall can arrest the slide and return to the kind of performance levels that generate results, the mood will shift just as quickly as it soured. If they cannot, the questions being asked quietly now will grow considerably louder.

Frequently asked

Why are Millwall fans unhappy right now?
Millwall have endured a difficult three-week run in the Championship, including a 3-1 defeat to Blackburn and a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough, leaving supporters frustrated with the team's recent form.
Where are Millwall in the Championship table?
Millwall's exact league position is subject to ongoing fixtures, but their recent run of results has given supporters cause for concern about where the club is headed in the second-tier standings.
Who is the Millwall manager?
Tony Mowbray is the Millwall manager. He acknowledged after the 3-1 defeat to Blackburn that his side had been outplayed, and he faces pressure to turn results around quickly.