Stop trying to play the clever **** ManMountain i said 'clubs like Millwall ' and refer to when a host of clubs were interested in signing Lambert from Bristol Rovers, Millwall being one of them(but had no chance as a couple of championship clubs were in the running to sign him), however a fellow League 1 club(Southampton) were able to meet the asking price and offer a better package than any of the championship clubs, despite having no chance of automatic promotion and a very slim chance of scrapping a play-off place that season(due to the points deduction incurred through living beyond your means with the previous owners), you also spent a load of money on Jose Fonte that season as well if i remember rightly.
However my main problem with Southampton was the way the Puncheon saga was handled, things had happened behind the scenes with Puncheon and Millwall took him on loan with a view to making it permanent if things worked out, the fee was more than what Southampton had payed to Plymouth originally so you would not had lost out in anyway, however your vinditive chairman decided to up the price to a million quid because he did well for us, eventually loaning him to Blackpool, but never making it permanent. You went on to **** up his move to QPR by dragging your feet and still have him.
For this if i was in charge at Millwall i would not have any dealings with Southampton with regards to any offer you make for Trotter, however money talks so i would make you pay over the odds for him and have Puncheon as part of the deal, if a deal to our satisfaction could not be reached i would sell Trotter to one of your rivals was a lot less than you offered to piss your chairman off even further.