‘Incredible’ – Millwall boss on Ra’ees Bangura-Williams meteoric rise and making it ‘game on’ for the play-offs
richard@slpmedia.co.uk
Millwall head coach Alex Neil reckons Ra’ees Bangura-Williams should look back on his recent achievements with pride.
The 20-year-old attacking midfielder only made his Lions debut on January 13 – scoring in the FA Cup win over Dagenham & Redbridge – but has now broken into the England Elite squad.
Lambeth-born Bangura-Williams, who made substitute appearances in international matches against Portugal and Switzerland, did not break into the professional game until December 2023.
Millwall signed the South Londoner from Tooting & Mitcham and he penned improved terms this January.
Bangura-Williams has featured 13 times this season.
England Elite has been rebranded from U20s – with former Lions winger Romain Esse, now at Palace, also in the same age group.
“It’s huge for Ra’ees,” said Neil, when asked about his call-up. “What it does show is how quickly things can change in football.
“If you think of where he was three months ago, I remember my first game coming here – I went and watched him in our U21s and he was on the bench.
“Three months later and he is playing for the England U20s, which is incredible.
“He deserves huge credit for that. His season has been turned upside down and, from his perspective, he should be really pleased with what he has done. Hopefully he can continue to get better.”
Bangura-Williams started playing for Tooting’s first-team at the age of 16. He had previously spent time with Chelsea, Tottenham and Watford but had been told his size was a reason for rejection.
“The main benefit of coming through that way is that he was exposed to men’s football however limited that was – because I don’t think he played a huge amount of games there either,” said Neil.
“Sometimes the academy is a little bit more protective, shall we say, with young players coming through. Whereas when you go into a man’s environment it is what it is – you either sink or you swim.
“From that perspective a lot of the kids that came through that way have an edge that a lot of academy kids maybe lack.”
Millwall are 11th in the Championship and head to fourth-placed Sunderland tomorrow.
“If you win the next game you might go within three points (off the play-offs) and then it is game on, isn’t it?,” said Neil.
“If you lose the next game and it goes to seven or eight points then you look like you’re out of it – but if you win after that the gap could close again.
“The easiest way to deal with the situation at this stage of the season is win the next game and we’ll have a better idea how close, or not, we are. Hopefully if we are close then can we win the next one?
“We’re not naive to the fact that for us to get to the play-offs this year is going to be a big ask.
“We still have got something like five of the top sides left to play, so there are a lot of tough games in there. But what we have shown, if we play well, is that we are more than a match for any of the teams we come up against.”
