Steve Morison: Millwall links vital when hierarchy determine make-up of next management team

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Steve Morison believes it is vitally important that there are Millwall links when their new head coach appointment is made – even if that is not the main man in the Den dugout.

The Lions have started the process of finding a successor to Neil Harris after he stepped down following Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Middlesbrough.

Harris’ assistant David Livermore, who played more than 300 matches for Millwall, has temporarily taken charge of first-team affairs.
Morison, who scored 92 goals in 336 matches for the Lions, played in the same side as Harris as well as scoring the 2017 Wembley winner against Bradford to take the club into the Championship.

Harris is Millwall’s all-time record goalscorer and knew exactly what made the fanbase tick. Asked if that unity is possible without affiliations to the club, Morison told the South London Press: “I think it is difficult. As successful as Gary Rowett was, I think it was always aimed (at him that he did not have a strong connection to the club). Whether people like me saying it or not, the people who make decisions can’t forget that.

“I’m not saying they have to get someone who has played for Millwall, but there has to be those people around it. There has to be people who can deal with the blokes that give you a bit of grief. You can get hammered all day and then you get the families by your car wanting photos and autographs.

“You have to be ready for all of that and understand what it feels like to pull that shirt on or stand on that touchline and do what it takes to be successful.

“I’ve seen many a player come there, not quite cut it, disappear and then go and have good careers or seasons elsewhere.

“I’m sure that will be the case with some managers as well.

“Look at how successful Ian Holloway was elsewhere but he struggled at Millwall. It was nothing to do with his coaching.

“You can’t just pretend to get it, or pull a flat cap on and think you’re a Millwall person. It doesn’t work like that. They have to accept you and take you as part of their family.

“They will love you and they will hate you – but they will have your back. They will get behind you if you’re doing well and hammer you if you’re not. It will be like that every five or 10 minutes and you have to either thrive on it or not.

“Look at how many of the current crop have been there a long time. There aren’t many clubs like that.”

Harris was boss when Millwall won promotion to the second tier and he was installed again in February after an alarming nosedive towards the relegation zone under predecessor Joe Edwards.

The Lions were in the top six in November but three successive losses have dropped them to 13th.

Asked how significant Harris’ exit is for Millwall, Morison said: “It is huge. He has given 27 years of his life to that football club. I don’t think he has put a foot wrong.

“There’s individual decisions he has made that everyone gets wrong – tactical ones and that kind of stuff – but he has been there in the club’s time of need. The club was there for him as well.

“The decision that is made next – about who follows him – will fill that void on that question about how big an impact it is going to be.

“I was surprised (that he left) because of how successful he was.

“He ranks right up there for managers I played under. It is a difficult one for me to talk about because I knew him before he was the manager. I played with him.

“To me he was the same person as when he wore the number nine jersey and I wore number 20. We set each other up and scored goals.

“He handed me the ball to take a penalty (just before Harris left the club as a player) as if he was passing over the baton to me.

“We always had that relationship. It was funny because he’d be walking through the football club with the right arse and he would hammer the lads in a meeting, but he’d catch me in the corridor before to tell me he is going to do it, while asking me how my weekend was! He trusted me to perform and he believed in me. Even if I was having a bad day he stuck by me.

“I knew what he expected. I enjoyed some of my best years at the football club under him.

“He made me feel important, wanted and playing some of the best football I had done, especially in the later years of my career.”

“We were a family at that football club. We could take the piss out of each other as well as hammer each other or love each other.

“In that dressing room, along with the staff, I could literally pick the phone up and ring any member of staff. Still now. I wouldn’t say that about any other club that I’ve been at and he was a part of that, obviously he had good people around him.

“I’ve said they should build a statue. A lot of players get it done for what they have done as a player. But he hasn’t only done it as a player, he has done it as a manager as well.

“He stepped up when needed as a player and took the manager job on full-time. We didn’t get promotion the first time around but did the second and had a really good time doing it. We went up and that first season we weren’t far off (getting in the Championship play-offs). We had FA Cup runs in that period and all sorts – it was that Millwall spirit.

“They were in the play-off places only a few weeks ago. I said to him now: ‘Your stock is through the roof – enjoy Christmas and I’m sure someone will pick the phone up in January’.”