Millwall winger Jed Wallace on why pal Ricky Holmes deserves his big move away from Charlton Athletic

Millwall winger Jed Wallace is looking forward to facing close pal Ricky Holmes on April 14 – his former Portsmouth team-mate sealing his transfer to Sheffield United earlier this week.

Holmes has angered some Charlton supporters after opting to leave the League One club and sign for the Blades in a £400,000 deal.

“Me and Holmesy speak every day,” said Wallace. “I’m happy now that I can retweet if he scores a goal without a few Millwall fans  getting on to me because of who he plays for.

“I’m over the moon for him. He was 26 and at Barnet when I first met him – where he has got to in such a short space of time is testament to his attitude. Not many 26-year-olds who have suffered League Two relegation and had a lot of injuries find themselves at a big club like Sheffield United who are knocking on the door for the Premier League.

“Charlton ended up as a stepping stone for him – that’s how far he has come.

“Charlton sold him at the end of the day. There is very limited loyalty in lots of parts of football at the moment. Looking at that club from the outside it looks all over the place.

“It is a famous club but there are thousands of empty seats, I’ve been to a couple of games to watch Holmesy. There is a negative feel around the place.

“I’ve been through it at Portsmouth and it doesn’t help on the pitch when things off the pitch aren’t settled.

“You’ve seen the benefits of that at Millwall. It is a very settled group of lads and manager and we have done well in the last two or three years because of that.

“You can’t begrudge Holmesy. He’s potentially 19 games away from the Premier League.

“It’s not a decision he took lightly. His little girl lives in Southend and he spent a lot of time travelling down there. The fact he is further away shows how seriously he takes his football.

“He loved it at Charlton but he should be in the Championship – he’s got that quality.”