Millwall surprised a lot of people last season with their doggedness and, indeed, general play – the Lions roaring to an 8th place finish in the league.
Neil Harris’ men fought in every game and it was this spirit that drove them to such heights, the Londoners only missing out on a play-off place by a mere three points – plus a fair few goals.
The season is now over, and Harris and the club need to look to next season with this summer acting as both consolidation and planning for the 2018/19 campaign. In recent comments carried by the South London Press & Mercury boss Harris touches on both aspects of this.
In one article carried by the local media site, Harris explains the reasoning behind offering 22-year-old centre-back Sid Nelson a new deal. The youngster would have been out of contract, and available to move on from The Den, at the end of June – something that the Lions were wanting to avoid.
Speaking specifically on the offer of a new deal to Nelson, Harris said: “We offered some contracts to a couple of young players because we see development. Everyone can look at Sid and see the development in him. He has been out playing league football and done really well.”
The youngster spent last season out on loan at League Two clubs Yeovil Town and Chesterfield where he made a total of 27 combined appearances and scored one goal.
Harris also spoke about recruitment plans ahead of next season, expressing the hard work that went in to covering “over 1,000 games” last season with recruitment plans which “started in January.”
On more concrete and immediate plans, Harris said that: “We’ve seen a lot of players and I’m in the process of meeting agents and players at the moment, talking to clubs as well about their players.”
It will be a summer of rebuilding for all Football League clubs, and it looks like Millwall are well on the way with theirs.
