Former Millwall striker George Alexander on first senior hat-trick, leaving Lions and rebooting career at Bromley

George Alexander scored his first senior hat-trick last weekend and the Welling United striker had his dad to partially thank for the match ball.

The former Millwall striker is on loan at the National League South club from Bromley.

Frontman Alexander, 22, bagged a treble in a 3-0 victory at Slough Town on Saturday and father Gary, who played for the Lions, made sure he had a keepsake.

“Luckily enough dad was friends with their manager and he came up afterwards to give the ball to me,” Alexander, who made the temporary move to Welling at the start of February, told the South London Press. “Sometimes at this level they need the balls to keep.

“It is a buzz to get your first hat-trick, at any level. It’s a proud moment for me.

“Warren Feeney (Welling’s manager) called me up about coming on loan about a week before it happened and said if I was interested to let him know.

“He told me that as long as I’m training well and stuff like that then I’m going to play. I went into the first week of training and scored against Dartford, a local derby.”
Alexander’s contract at Bromley was due to expire this summer but he signed an extension before heading to Park View Road.

He was a prolific scorer at junior level for Millwall – the club he and his dad both support – but was released in May 2021.

Alexander made one first-team appearance for the Lions, at Wigan Athletic on the final day of the 2018-19 Championship season.

It was the same match in which Billy Mitchell, who recently clocked up his 100th appearance for the Lions, was also handed his debut.

“Everything in my career, in terms of Millwall, has been positive,” said Alexander. “I grew up as a Millwall fan and I managed to play at every level for the club.

“It was one game in the Championship but no-one can take that away from me, whether I ever play a Championship game again or not.

“I played from under-six to first-team. I was upset about what happened in the end but that’s fine, that’s football.

“I remember I was excited when my mum had said the club wanted me to go in and train. I used to stay at my nan’s in Kennington and we used to go to the indoor dome, myself and my cousins. One day they asked me to go in and train.

“Having brothers and sisters made it hard to make time to take me to football. Millwall was near enough on the doorstep for me – it was easier for everyone to do.

“I never thought about going anywhere else, not just because I supported them but also it was easy for mum to drive me to training and back.

“I can’t say a bad word about every coach I had along the way.

“I had some good times alongside some bad spells where maybe it wasn’t going right for me – but people stuck by me and the ability that I had.

“I came on 10 minutes before Billy at Wigan and I know he has played 100 games now. I still chat to him, he is a close friend of mine. I always look out for the results, being a Millwall fan.

“I’ve been to The Den a couple of times since I left but because I tend to be playing on a Saturday or Tuesday it is tough to get there too often.

“I’ve got four brothers and three of them go to Millwall, home and away, they are only young. The whole family are Millwall fans.”

His dad played for Exeter City, Swindon Town, Hull City, Leyton Orient, Brentford and Crawley Town in a career that, including non-league stop-offs, saw him score 223 goals in 731 matches.

Alexander is keen to also talk about the really positive influence that mum Laura has had on him.

“It’s not just been my dad that has helped me,” he said. “Where he has played the game, people ask the question (about the advice he can impart). But there are a lot of things as football players that people don’t see, which my mum helps me with and my dad can’t.

“He is always telling me what I need to do better. I can only learn off that, like with other players and coaches that I’ve worked with.

“I want to get those little tips that will help me score goals and get to the best level I can.”

Alexander has scored six goals in 38 matches for Bromley, who are chasing the National League play-offs.

“I try and set myself goals, reasonable targets to hit during the season,” he said. “In my head I think that can take me somewhere – if it doesn’t then it doesn’t. Obviously I want to play as high as I can.”

Alexander put pen to paper with Bromley in August 2021.

“At that time I’d been playing U23 football at Millwall for a while and it was just about getting out playing – Bromley offered me that,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say at that time that I wasn’t enjoying football, but I just wanted to play in an environment where it was meaningful – that the three points mattered.

“It was either go to another club in League One, play in their U23s for a bit and earn your stripes again, or go to Bromley and play in the first team.

“I spoke to the manager and Dunney (Alan Dunne) and they said I was going to play. It’s been the best thing I did.

“Playing U23s with Millwall was different, the points mean nothing.”

PICTURES: DAVE BUDDEN, KEITH GILLARD AND BRIAN TONKS