Millwall boss Gary Rowett on facing his former club Cambridge United in EFL Cup

Millwall manager Gary Rowett is looking forward to facing his former club Cambridge United in the EFL Cup tonight

The 47-year-old Lions boss started his career with this evening’s opponents before a £200,000 transfer to Everton in 1994.

“I had a brilliant time there,” said Rowett. “It was the start of my football career at 16. I think I nearly got released after my first year’s apprenticeship and the second year I was in the team. It was a bit of a crazy period.

“I played multiple positions and in terms of appearances, with the cups, I wouldn’t have been far off 80, 90 or 100 games. For a young player, that was brilliant. We had some fabulous times in the cup.

“I scored in this competition for them against Oldham to knock them out, they were a top-flight team at the time.

“I look back at my time there with a lot of fondness and I still look for their results. They’ve been doing really, really well.

“I played under Ian Atkins, John Beck and John Taylor. John Beck was manager for a long period and we were involved in a lot of the side antics that became quite legendary.

“I remember scoring at Ipswich and it took us top of what is now the Championship – for a team like Cambridge that is an incredible run, from non league through what is now League Two and League One as well. Unfortunately that was the pinnacle in terms of how high they got. They dropped back down but have found a way to find back to League One.”