Neil Harris heads to Wembley on Saturday determined Millwall will finish the day in the Championship and deliver the perfect end to a “distressing” period for a club that has been threatened with a move from its south-London home.
Millwall’s roots in Bermondsey are strong, and a concerted supporters’ and media campaign resulted in Lewisham council’s plans to seize land around The Den being mothballed in January and coming under the scrutiny of an independent public inquiry.
Harris is desperate for his team to make up for defeat by Barnsley in last season’s League One play-off final by seeing off Bradford and firmly believes Millwall are better placed to do that after their partial victory off the pitch in the political sphere.
“On the surface [the controversial plans] didn’t really affect the club too much but behind the scenes, obviously having all the information that was linked to it, it was hard at times because it could be distressing,” the manager said.
“But we are in a much better place now, we are getting much better support and it has been a big bonus for us to almost come out the other side of that, thinking that we are staying where our roots are based.
“All football clubs, but ours in particular, are built on their local society – a club is built on pride and what comes with that, including people who have moved away and want to come back on match day. However, people don’t want to be travelling miles and miles to go and watch their team.”
Harris, a former Millwall player and a club hero who was given the manager’s job in the spring of 2015 after two spells in the caretaker role, added: “I embrace change, but not too often. I like tradition; Millwall is a club built on tradition. It would have been a travesty if we had been made to move.”
Millwall fans are certainly getting used to travelling to Wembley, with Saturday’s trip to the stadium their fifth in eight years, after four play-off finals and an FA Cup semi-final against Wigan in 2013. A sea of inflatable bananas is expected in the stands, in reference to “Bananaman” Sir Steve Bullock, the Lewisham mayor at the centre of the Millwall compulsory purchase farrago, who heads the foundation the address of which is shared by the banana-chomping cartoon superhero. Barnsley were 2-0 up after 19 minutes last year, a disastrous start from which Millwall never recovered. What does Harris, whose team reached this season’s FA Cup quarter-finals before losing to Tottenham, expect on the pitch this time around?
“There is no doubting the FA Cup has affected our league form at times,” he said. “I thought we had got away with a hangover from the play-off final when we started well in August, but September was a disaster. But the boys have always found a way of finding a Millwall performance when needed. We are one game away from the goal that we set out two years ago. [Bradford] got a flying start but there is nothing between the teams.
We’ve had two 1-1 draws [with Bradford] this season and there was not a lot separating us in the league. It is going to be a tight affair,” Harris said.
“We are a good team, they are a good team. Stuart [McCall, Bradford manager] will be saying all the same things. On the day it will come down to who gets a bit of luck, leading up to the game and on the pitch, and who handles the occasion and puts in the best performance.”
Harris overtook Teddy Sheringham as the record goalscorer at Millwall in 2009 and is at his most animated when asked how frustrating he finds being in the dugout, his limbs twitching as he imitates the actions he involuntarily falls into at pitchside.
“When you are on the pitch, you are in control of your destiny. When you are on the sidelines, you can make subs and tactical changes because people listen but you can’t physically go out there and kick a football. That is the hardest thing. You see ex-players on the sidelines and they are trying to kick every ball, and you see me get closer and closer to that white line without going over it, trying to get involved.
“I win with the players, I lose with the players. What I have to try and do is keep a calm head the whole time and try and be as consistent as possible, but it’s not easy sometimes.”
Harris will not mind, of course, if Millwall win ugly, an epithet too often applied to the off-field drama at a club whose fans have earned a reputation the club are working hard to shed. Millwall want to attract a different fan base, a younger one in particular, and there was no disguising the manager’s pride as he pointed out the Lions’ Football League award last month for family club of the year. “That was massive for us as a club. Put that in with the FA Cup run and getting to the play-offs and there have been a lot of good times for the club this year. We hope for one more at the weekend.”