KENNY Jackett says the Lions will play on their underdog status if the club are promoted to the Championship.

Millwall aren’t even one of the biggest spenders in League One, so competing with second tier sides next year if they beat Swindon in Saturday’s play off final will be even more of a challenge for Jackett.

However, the manager believes it can be done and revealed being written off would suit his side down to the ground.

“I’m certainly confident of our boys rising to a challenge,” he said.

“Our players, group and supporters are a good underdog and that is something I would use if we got there.

“Millwall is stable at the moment and is not a club in the last few years which has been linked with administration.

“Similarly the other way, we haven’t spent what Southampton or Huddfersfield have or got the wage bills of Norwich, Leeds or Charlton.

“We’ve been nicely in the middle with the likes of MK Dons and clubs like that and that has given us a good balance.”

Jackett added: “We will build again if we go into the Championship but we have to earn that right on Saturday.

“We won’t necessarily spend wildly, we will work out what we think we need to do well at that level and then try to make that work rather than the other way when you have x amount to spend and then go and do that.

“I tend to do it the other way and analyse what we need first as a club.

“Invariably that transpires to certain players in certain positions.

“It might be some things about background structure like training grounds, a ground or something like that, which might be the case if you look at Blackpool.

“We tend to work out what we need to do for the particular season and then work out a way of trying to do that financially.”

However, Jackett knows talk of Millwall’s prospects in the Championship will count for nothing if they fail to beat Swindon this weekend.

He said: “We’ve got to earn getting in the Championship and if you are going to get out of League One this year, you’ve done very well because it is a good league.

“It does come down to one game now for us but it is a situation where we’ve got to put the work in to earn a Championship place.

“On the day I hope the occasion has gone a little bit and we can get straight down to business.

“A lot of people say Millwall haven’t been terribly successful in play-offs but we beat Leeds in the semi-final last year and Huddersfield this year, so there is a degree of success there.

“But I suppose you would quantify success in the play-offs by being the one team out of four who do go up and that hasn’t happened to the club yet.

“There is something in football and life to be said for persistence.

“I’m looking forward to the game and it has been quite a long break since the semi-final but on the plus side it has given us a chance to get one or two people fit and available.

“Barring Alan Dunne, who isn’t going to make it, everybody is ok.”