DEFIANT Stefan Rupp shrugged off the disappointment of missing out on a Championship windfall by insisting it is a case of when rather than if City do go up.

The German joint-owner refused to be too downhearted at seeing the dream of instant promotion in their first year of charge wrenched away by Millwall's late winner.

Instead Rupp looked back on their opening season in England with a sense of pride and believes defeat was just a case of "postponing" their celebrations.

"If we look at the season as a whole, we could easily have been promoted automatically because 19 draws was too many," he said.

"But we were never out of the play-offs and, for our first year in England, I think that's quite an achievement.

"I was told if you win at Wembley, it's awesome, but if you lose, it's horrible – but it's not that horrible. It's only a matter of postponing what we are going to achieve and this defeat is not the end of the world.

"Missing out on the Championship has probably cost us between £10million and £12million but we're here to stay for the long term. We won't be going anywhere and just have to stay patient."

Rupp was shocked by the post-match scenes as hundreds of Millwall fans rushed on to the Wembley pitch, some of them confronting Stuart McCall and the crestfallen City team and looking for a reaction.

"Football fans are always a bit enthusiastic," said Rupp. "If that enthusiasm is combined with alcohol, then you get things like that, which have nothing to do with football and shouldn't be seen on a pitch.

"People want to celebrate but when it's endangering people's safety, then that's going a bit too far. It's only football – we're not going to war or anything like that."

Rupp was relieved to see that City's supporters did not respond to the Millwall invasion before order was eventually restored.

He said: "I'm very proud of our fans. They saw the occasion for what it was – a family experience. It was an exciting Saturday afternoon, which should be fun for everybody.

"All our supporters came with their kids and that's what you want – you don't want a civil war in a football stadium on a Saturday afternoon.

"That's complete rubbish and they're in the wrong place if that's what they want to do."