Tom Bradshaw not taking Millwall starting spot for granted: ‘Everyone starts with a clean slate’

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Tom Bradshaw will look to go from zero to hero again for Millwall this season – with the striker adamant that his excellent last season counts for nothing before the start of another attempt to reach the Premier League.

The 31-year-old scored 17 goals in the 2022-23 campaign – his best ever return at the level – and that included hat-tricks against Watford and Sheffield United at The Den.

Bradshaw’s performances and net gains ensured a recall to the Wales squad in March, after more than five years out of the international fold, his call-up coming shortly after he won Championship Player of the Month for February.

Millwall have boosted their frontline this summer with the addition of Kevin Nisbet, who had been set to make the switch to SE16 in January only for a complication with his medical to force a rethink, from Hibernian for a seven-figure fee. And there remains a strong possibility that manager Gary Rowett will add another player in that area before the transfer deadline in September.

Competition. Threat. Not that Bradshaw is guilty of sitting back and basking in the satisfying afterglow of what he achieved.

“Your goals from last season don’t tally up – everyone starts with a clean slate and afresh,” he told the South London Press.

“That is the mentality you have got to have. You have got to prove yourself again and  why you deserve to be in the starting line up.

“The extra attacking options we have is a good thing for the club. Looking back at last season we probably scored more than we have in previous seasons and it’s something we’ll be looking to do again. It takes some pressure off the defence. We’ve had seasons before where if we conceded then it was going to be tough for us to win a game, because we’d rarely score more than once.”

Bradshaw set himself the aim of double figures 12 months ago and once again that will be the initial approach.

“Seventeen can seem a long, long way away – especially when the season has not even started,” he said. “It’s about not setting your targets too high, then you try and tick things off and reset.

“Three or four weeks after the end of the last season I could look back and think it was a successful season for me, but the goal was always to get into the play-offs.

“So to get into the position we did  45 minutes from the end of the season (winning 3-1 against Blackburn and in a top-six spot) and not get there left a really sour taste in the mouth for everyone involved at the football club.

“I certainly wouldn’t call it a failure, because we got ourselves in the strongest position we’ve been in for a lot of years. We fell at the final hurdle, hopefully we won’t do that this year.

“This is a new challenge. There are different teams and this is a different squad. I’m a striker and naturally I’ll be wanting to score as many goals as I can.”

Millwall are still coming to terms with the loss of owner and chairman John Berylson at the start of July.

The charismatic American, whose investment of more than £100million in the South London club has been crucial in them becoming a promotion contender in England’s second tier, was killed in a road traffic accident.

Berylson found the right words when the shellshocked Millwall players came back out of the tunnel after their loss to Blackburn – what could have been a victory lap turned into a morose and subdued occasion.

“JB was on the pitch and being positive – talking about ways we can improve this year,” said Bradshaw, who signed for the Lions from Barnsley in August 2018.

“It was tough to have it in our own hands and let it slip through our fingers but John was a very steady and stable guy.

“As players we were emotional but one of John’s best traits was how level-headed he was all the time. Even at the crux of a massive disappointment, his thought was about how we could be stronger.”

Bradshaw has European Championship qualifiers on the horizon with a trip to Latvia next on September 11. But before that comes club football. He has never played at Leicester or Southampton, both re-adjusting after losing their Premier League status.

The fact the home game against Leeds United has been selected for live coverage on Sky Sports draws a smile – with both Bradshaw’s hat-tricks coming when their cameras were at The Den.

“I think 10 of my goals were on Sky – so more than half,” said Bradshaw, who has scored 53 Championship goals in 230 matches. “I don’t put too much thought into it. If the same happens this year, I’ll be over the moon.”

PICTURES: BRIAN TONKS AND KEITH GILLARD